Splatalot Defenders: Overdrive
by akl110998233
Summary: With James still missing, the Main computer still broken and a new enemy closer than ever to destroying them. Will the Jr defenders defeat Astrid, Ivar's favourite Witch, or will she succeed where Alwin and Banan didn't?
1. Turning on Overdrive Part 1

**A/N: So here's the sequel to JCD. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Splatalot or its defenders but every other character is mine.**

It was a hot July day. Knightriss had suggested that they all go down to the beach and soak in the sun while it lasts. As soon as it was suggested, everyone sprang into action and collected their things and got dressed in the appropriate outfits.

Much to Gildar's dismay, Knightriss wanted to take only 2 of the splat Van's and it was decided that the Graphum's and Pecks would be sharing one van. It wasn't that Gildar was still annoyed about the relationship of his Daughter and Danny or that he and Danny didn't get on very well. They had 'bonded' over the past few months. No, it was down to being an over protective father.

Once everything was packed and ready to go, the defenders set off. Skabb was driving Splat Van one and was leading with way with Knightriss giving directions. Thorne was annoyed that the drive was 2 hours long and that he would have nothing to do. Crocness reminded him that Vane and Faetal were sharing the Splat Van with them so he could always socialise.

Zsa-Zsa, Jack and Kyle sat at the back of the Splat Van so they could talk privately. They had come no nearer to finding James or fixing the main computer. This wasn't good. As Zsa-Zsa predicted in February, the robot attackers were still attacking so once every while they would be called out to stop them. Jack, at this moment was holding a small brown box. He had tight grip on it.

"What's in the box?" Kyle asked noticing his grip.

Jack opened the lid to show his two friends.

"The power gems?" Zsa-Zsa asked shocked, "You brought the power gems to the beach!"

"What if there's an attack?" Jack asked, "What then?"

Zsa-Zsa rolled her eyes then slumped back down into her seat and shook her head. He did have a point, if the robot attackers had somehow found them and without James, they would be totally defenceless.

In the second Splat Van, Kook had 'kindly' brought one of his favourite CD's and was playing it. Gildar, who was driving didn't know how long he would be able to cope with the words 'Gummy Bear' any longer.

Ballista and Shaiden were trying to block the song out while they were talking. Shaiden knew it was a mistake letting Kook in the front with Gildar. To be honest Kook did deliver his promise of bring the entertainment but somehow I don't think he meant having a radio war with Gildar. Gildar turned the song off while Kook would immediately turn it back on.

In the back of the Splat Van, Annaka rested her head on Danny's shoulder while trying to get some sleep as it was an early start. Danny had rested the side of his head on top of Annaka's and was bored. The radio war was just plain annoying now. Danny looked up to his left, outside the window. The other splat van was next door. Kyle was slumped against the window looking as bored as Danny. Luckily he turned at spotted Danny looking and started to pull faces.

Each took a turn at pulling an overly dramatic face. Danny chuckled at Kyle's screaming for mercy face. Then the face pulling turned into impressions of the defenders. Kyle pointed to Thorne and Danny nodded, he squinted his eyes in an evil like manner, and pretending to have the munching mace hit his hand repeatedly. He could see that Kyle was in hysterics.

"Danny, please stop imitating Thorne." Gildar told him, "It's very off putting but incredibly accurate."

Danny stopped and put his thumb down at Kyle signalling game over. Kyle nodded then went back to talking to Zsa-Zsa and Jack.

1 hour and a half into the journey, Thorne was getting bored so was Vane, who was also hungry. They had come off the motorway now and were driving along normal roads. Luckily the weather was still sunny. Inside the Splat Van it must have been 20-25 degrees and getting hotter. Kyle was getting restless so were Zsa-Zsa and Jack.

"How much longer?" Jack asked his dad.

"About half an hour." Skabb replied.

"I don't think I can last much longer." Zsa-Zsa moaned despite being in shorts and a blue vest top, she too was feeling the heat, "Are you sure the air conditioning can't go up any more."

"Positive my dear." Knightriss replied.

Faetal had put her Macbeth book down by now, she couldn't read in this heat also she knew the story off by heart anyway.

It was the same situation in Splat Van two.

"How is it so hot?" Ballista asked fanning herself with a piece of paper.

"I hope we get there soon." Shaiden commented.

At the front, Kook was the only one okay with this weather; he had experienced it being hotter when he lived in Australia. Gildar, on the other hand, was panicking about his hair and how messy it must have looked. Kook did keep telling him that his hair was fine and not on hair was out of place but the Viking wouldn't take his word.

Danny was aimlessly looking out of the window at all of the houses and the restaurants. They had made him hungry, due to only getting up 10 minutes before they were due to leave he had missed breakfast.

Annaka had woken up, 10 minutes ago and was brushing her hair. She had packed it along with her mirror and makeup in case hers got ruined when she went in the sea. Fortunately she had been asleep for the majority of the journey so wasn't bored. She poked Danny on the arm. He turned to face his girlfriend.

"Yes?" He asked.

"There must be a game we can play." She told him looking through the apps on her phone, "How about Hangman?"

"Okay." Danny agreed and Annaka put the phone down on her leg.

25 minutes later, Kyle was the first one to spot the sea in the distance.

"The sea!" He cried out happily, it couldn't be long now.

"About time." Vane said, "All of these shops are making me hungry."

"Are you ever full?" Crocness asked.

Vane shrugged and continued to look out at the window. Skabb drove a little faster knowing that there destination was in sight. The little shops selling coloured inflatables came into view as well as wind breakers and rugs to sit on. There were definitely almost there.

Danny and Annaka were still playing there game of hangman, this time against the computer. It was harder then they both expected but finally they guessed the word grapefruit and won a point.

"Defenders, I believe we are here." Gildar said parking the splat Van next to the other one.

Everyone stepped out and looked at the beach. The tied was out and the sand was a sunny yellow. It was fairly busy but it was a big beach. Vane noticed the shops close by; he would get some food soon. Everyone unpacked the vans and found a big spot on the beach. Danny had his arm wrapped round Annaka's shoulders and was keeping her close.

"What is Danny doing?" Jack asked sighing at his friend.

"He's marking his territory." Kyle told him, "Keeping any unwanted visitors away from his prize."

"Have you been watching that animal documentary again?" Zsa-Zsa asked.

The defenders laid their towels near each other and spoke about defending the castle and how nice it was being away from the castle while the Jr defenders laid their towels near each other and talked about James and the computer.

"Where could he be?" Kyle asked, "Surely he would have returned by now?"

"Yeah when we got captured Alwin and Banan left him behind." Zsa-Zsa recalled, "And when we returned to the castle he wasn't there."

"Also we can't locate him on the computer because that's still broken." Annaka said, "And we have no hope of fixing it."

"I'm going to the shop." Danny announced changing the topic, "You guys coming?"

The Jr defenders all stood up and walked over to their parents.

"We're going to the shop, want anything?" Kyle asked.

"Yes I'll have a mayo bacon sandwich." Vane replied, "Or chicken if there's not any bacon."

"I'll have a croissant." Kook said.

The rest of the defenders declined. Jack picked up the brown box and the 5 JCD defenders went off to the shops.

"What's in the box?" Danny asked.

"The power gems." Jack replied bluntly as they entered the shops.

Danny shrugged and went over with Annaka to find Kook a croissant. While the couple were arguing whether to get him a chocolate one of a plain one, someone tapped Annaka on the shoulders. She turned around to see who had tapped her.

"James?" She asked shocked, "Is that you?"

There stood James, his black hair had grown longer and he now had a beard. His work clothes were dirty but he seemed like he was doing okay. Danny turned around suddenly at the sound of James.

"What are you doing here?" Danny asked, "We've been looking for you for months."

"I know." James told them, "I've been watching Ivar and Neri and there isn't much time."

Zsa-Zsa, Jack and Kyle came round the corner and froze at the sight of James. They rushed over to him to hear what he had to say.

"In precisely 7 minutes. A girl is going to walk onto the beach and sit near you." James told him, "She is a friend of Ivar's. Keep a close eye on her and look after the power gems. You're going to need them."

James quickly walked away after that. The Jr defenders stood their frozen for a moment then realised they needed to get a move on. They brought Kook a chocolate croissant and ran back to the beach.

"Here's your sandwich dad." Kyle said as coolly as he could, "Enjoy."

"There you go." Danny said giving Kook his food, "Bye."

The pair walked back to their towels and waited there. Everyone was sitting up and eyeing the area. In 7 minutes something was going to happen and they had to be ready. The brown box was wedged between Danny and Annaka. Jack kept looking at his watch. 2 minutes to go, it was going to be absolute torcher.

Kyle looked over at his parents. They were smiling and laughing with the rest of the defenders. They didn't have a clue what was about to happen. Faetal looked over at Kyle and smiled. Kyle smiled back but Faetal knew something was wrong.

7 minutes precisely and James was right. A few metres away, women lay down a purple towel. She had purple hair with coloured streaks in it. Jack observed her quickly. She seemed normal but it was Annaka who spotted it.

"She's wearing trainers." Annaka whispered, "You don't wear trainers when you go to the beach."

Jack nodded; the 5 of them went over to their parents. Jack had the brown box tight in his grip. He wasn't going to lose the power gems.

"Can we all go for a walk along the path to the pier?" Zsa-Zsa asked hopefully, "All of us."

"What a marvellous suggestion." Knightriss said, "Let's go."

All of the defenders stood up and walked off the beach, Jack looked back to the purple haired girl. She was watching them but she remained where she was. Also she was talking on the phone. Something was going to happen any moment now.

Bang! The doors of the beach huts smashed off and onto the pavements and strange creatures walked out. They weren't robot attackers, they were something new. The creatures themselves were slimy. Some were purple and some were pink. They did look like robot attackers but they looked upgraded. They had a shiny coloured body and gold gloves and boots. Their eyes were black as the sky.

Everyone started screaming and running away even the defenders. They all ran straight into town and ran behind and pub and into its car park.

"What was that?" Ballista screeched, "What were those."

"People of Canada hello." Someone on a loud speaker said, "I am Astrid, creator of wars and destroyers of lives. I've been sent by Ivar Graphum to collect his prize."

"I knew it would have been Ivar." Gildar said angrily, "He has gone too far this time."

"Surrender Defenders or pay the price." Astrid shouted.

"What do we do?" Vane asked.

"Run." Jack replied to the defenders, "You guys run and we'll catch up."

"We can't leave you guys!" Shaiden exclaimed.

"Trust us." Danny told his mum, "We can take care of it."

Knightriss unwilling nodded, she trusted her son so she led the defenders away from the car park. Jack looked at the Jr defenders.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Always." They replied.

**A/n: So how was the first Chapter? Hope you enjoyed it.**


	2. Turning on Overdrive Part 2

The defenders left the car park and headed back towards the beach. People were running past them, bumping into them screaming their heads off. The upgraded robot attackers were chasing them off the beach them returning, to this person Called Astrid.

Danny, Annaka, Jack, Kyle and Zsa-Zsa stopped at the edge of the pavement and stood looking at their opponent. She didn't spot them at first; she had powers, just like Zsa-Zsa's. A purple electrical like power came from her hands, she aimed it for the purple and pink objects. It seemed to be their electrical supply.

Astrid finally looked up grinning, everyone was long gone. Towels, buckets, spades and shops were deserted. No one could help them now.

"Only 5 of you." She said walking closer, she had a sweet innocent like voice but with a twist of evil, "I heard there were 15 defenders in total. Where are the other ten?"

"None of your business." Jack replied.

"Oh I see." She said figuring it out, "You're the JCD defenders aren't you? Come to take me down?"

"You bet ya." Danny replied, "A friend of Ivar is an enemy of ours."

"Well if that's how you want it." Astrid replied, "Meteorots, attacked."

The Meteorots started to advance on the JCD defenders. So now they knew the name of the purple, pink upgraded robot attackers. They moved quite slowly but these ones were armed with shields and pirate like swords.

Jack stepped forwards. There was no way he and his team could take them on without any protection. They would get slaughtered.

"Power Gems Activate!"

"**JCD Defenders 5- Yellow"**

"**JCD Defender 4- Red"**

"**JCD Defenders 3- Green"**

"**JCD Defender 2- Blue"**

"**JCD Defender 1-Black"**

The flashes of colour stopped the Meteorots for a few seconds but from then on it was a fight. Kyle jumped as he dodged his opponent's edge of his blade. He kicked on into another and he had a little domino effect going on. Usual that would have been it but these purple, pink Meteorots things stood back up only a little damaged. Kyle stepped backwards shocked. He was going to need more power. He activated his power and grabbed his it from the air. He shot his laser bows at them. This made an impact and 50% of the Meteorots shattered into pieces.

Annaka quickly spun around and kicked two of these Meteorots but as Kyle found out they were tougher than they looked. She blocked their attacker on her and kicked a few more back to give her some room to think. This was going badly very badly. Astrid was still there smiling. Annaka grabbed her Power Crossbow and shot her red energy balls at the Meteorots. Sparks flew off them as they got hit. Piece of Malfunctioning robot was left in the sand. She then turned around to fight a few more off.

Danny hated the sand. You couldn't run in it properly let alone fight in it. Also his uniform was sandy but he carried on punching the Meteorots and kicking them away. Danny quickly found out that didn't work, so called upon his Power sling-shot. Green balls of energy hit the robots chest and they fell to pieces instantly.

Zsa-Zsa highed kicked one then another. It wasn't working and she knew it. This is why she hated new enemy's they were always more powerful than before but at least she knew that this was Ivar's doing. Zsa-Zsa kicked all the Meteorots the ground then engaged her Power Dagger. She stabbed at the robots. That did the trick; they fell to the ground and didn't move.

If Jack wasn't so busy with the Meteorots he would be taking on Astrid right now then at least that would have been another problem solved but no instead he was having difficulty fighting these robot things that appeared to have no weakness. Jack kicked repeatedly but nothing happened. He missed fight robot attackers. He decided to grab his Power Laser and just shot black laser beams at them. That was there weakness laser beams. He watched them for a few seconds malfunctioning on the ground with sparks flying off them.

After the last Meteorots was destroyed, the JCD defenders regrouped ready to fight Astrid. She stood their smiling. Neither one of the JCD defenders like it.

"Very impressive." She commented, "You 5 do live up to your name but I wander how well you would do without the power gems."

"You won't be able to find out." Zsa-Zsa furiously said back.

Astrid smiled again and lifted her hands up; along with the movement of her hands the power gems lifted out of their pockets and were floating in the air. Annaka tried to get them back down using her telekinesis but Astrid was to powerful.

She let the Power Gems linger in the air for a few seconds before throwing a purple flow of lightning at them.

"No!" Jack shouted as he powered down.

After the Yellow, Blue, Red and Green flashed disappeared, the Jr defenders found themselves back in their normal clothes looking down at the sand. There layed their Power Gems, shattered into tiny pieces. Without knowing it, they had just fought their last JCD battle and now they were absolutely powerless.

"Goodbye JCD." Astrid said laughing then disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

The Jr defenders stood there in silence for a few moments before Kyle had the courage to say something, "What do we do?"

Jack looked around; both splat vans were gone, so hopefully their parents were safe, in fact the car park was deserted just like the beach. Zsa-Zsa walked over to their towels carefully stepping over her shattered power gem and collected all the towels.

"We need to go home." Jack announced, "There must be a train station nearby."

So they all wandered off into town leaving their shattered Power Gems behind. Someone tomorrow, maybe a beach cleaner would probably mistake that for shard of glass and throw it away in a bin not knowing that those shards of coloured glass were once a great power that stopped the Mighty Alwin and Banan from destroying Pearly Canyon.

Luckily enough the train station wasn't far from the beach, clearly this is where most of the people went like the Jr defenders they were trying to go home. Kyle leaned against a wall while the others were getting tickets. They were no longer JCD defenders, just Jr defenders. They had lost their name that brought fear to the robots eyes.

15 minutes later, once the train arrived, the defenders clambered on and sat quietly. Each one of them felt like they had lost apart of themselves. No one would dare asked about what was going to happen next because that answer would normally have been answered with the power gems.

Everything had changed at Zsa-Zsa hated it. She didn't mind some changes like when her parents returned after 15 years or getting the power gems. People told her that changes were good but today it felt like changes were bad. She remembered something Charles had told her years ago about a series of unfortunate events leads to one big happy one. She only hoped that this unfortunate event would.

An hour and a half later, the Jr defenders got off at Pearl Canyon station and headed towards the Castle. Once they entered, each Jr defender was bombarded by hugs from their parents, each one asking them where on earth they had been. Jack just replied that they tried to stop Astrid but failed.

One the Jr defenders had sat down at eaten something their lunch, they heard a knock at the kitchen door.

"James?" Zsa-Zsa asked completely shocked, "What are you doing here?"

"Well as your mentor I believe I should be here." James replied. He had cut his hair back to its normal style, shaven his beard and had changed into a new fresh black suit, "Follow me please."

The Jr defenders didn't protest and went down to the control room with James. Once they arrived they found it had been cleaned up and everything was exactly the same as before. The desk in the corner of the room and the round table with the coloured chairs, they decided to stand. They weren't JCD anymore and sitting in those coloured chairs just reminded them of the colours they no longer needed to wear.

"Astrid destroyed the Power Gems." Jack whispered.

He was the first one to admit it. It was now true; the Jr defenders couldn't kid themselves much longer about it all being a weird dream. The Power Gems had really been destroyed.

"I know." James replied, "I assume you met Astrid then."

The Jr defenders nodded and watched as James flicked a switch. Suddenly the broken and smashed computer became alive once more. It wasn't like it was before but at least it was still working.

"Computer." James announced, "I think it's time to activate Project Overdrive."


	3. Turning on Overdrive Part 3

"Hang on." Jack said stopping James, who was about to explain project Overdrive, "How can we trust you?"

"Sorry?" James asked confused, "I'm your mentor."

"Jack's right." Kyle added in, "We haven't seen you for months and when you do turn up, this happens. You warned us about Astrid, how do we know you don't work for Ivar?"

"Listen, you can trust me." James told them, "Me and Charles went back years ago and I have contacts from the inside of Ivar's group also Astrid is pretty hard to miss."

"That still doesn't mean we can trust you." Annaka said.

"Charles trusted me, if you don't trust me, trust Charles's judgement." James argued.

The Jr defenders looked at each other and nodded at this moment they didn't have much choice. Whatever James had planned, they would need it.

"Okay." Danny said, "So what is Project Overdrive."

James got out a silver briefcase and placed it on the table, "I also knew that someday the Power Gems would fail us that they would be destroyed and you guys would be left defenceless. The reason I was gone for a few months is in here. Jr defenders I introduce you to the Overdrive Keys."

James opened the brief case. Inside were 5 different coloured keys and what looked like an updated version of their wristband communicators. Each key was a different colour like the power gems. In fact they were the same colour as the power gems, black, blue, green, red and yellow.

"These work exactly like the power gems except that they are more powers full and while the power gems were based on Animals, these Overdrive Keys are based on cars." James explained, "I figured you already know your colours."

The Jr defenders cautiously picked up their coloured Overdrive key and wrist band. When they looked closely they saw that the key fit into the wrist band like when you would turn on the ignition for a car.

"And like the power gems, you'll have names." James told them getting out a sheet of paper, "Jack you first."

Jack stood forward and looked at James, "Your car name as leader will be Dark Lightning, fast and swift."

Jack nodded at his name and stood back in line, Zsa-Zsa stood out next and waited for James to tell her what name she had.

"Zsa-Zsa you will be Bright star, gleaming and always there when they need you."

Danny stood forward and smiled at James, "Danny you will be Desert Fire, you van with stand even the toughest situations."

Danny stepped back and Annaka stepped forward hoping she would get a decent name.

"Annaka you will be Wind Storm, fierce and direct."

Annaka smiled at her name and pushed Kyle forward to find out his, "Kyle you will be Mountain Cruiser, nothing will get in your way."

The Jr defenders stepped back in line while James showed them a hologram of their new Uniform. It was similarly to the JCD one but instead, the helmet was had decorations like at the front of a car on then like axels and small head lights. Their chest no longer had a power coin with the animal enscripted in it and finally they had a belt with, what they could guess, was there logo in it. They seemed to have a picture of each defenders unique car. Jack thought the belt were unnecessary for the boys as it uniform would have looked just as good without it where as for the girls, it made the skirt and trouser thing look better.

"Just one problem." Danny said, "What about our parents because I don't know about you guys but I'm being watched very carefully by mine and Gildar."

"He's got a point." Zsa-Zsa agreed, "My parents are watching me carefully in case something happens."

"Yeah and we can hardly say we just going off to fight some Meteorots that some witch girl has sent. We'll back before tea." Kyle told them.

"He's right." Annaka said.

"Don't worry, I've been thinking about that." James explained, "And I've come up with a suggestion. When I first came here I was looking at the blue prints for this lab and what I discovered was that there is a passage way from here to the outside of the castle."

"Okay then." Jack said, "Where is it?"

James walked over to the left wall and pressed into a stone. Just like in a movie, the wall lifted up revealing a very dirty and cob webby passage way. Jack walked it into first followed by Kyle, Danny, Annaka and Zsa-Zsa. It was pitch black so Jack felt the walls to try and figure out the route.

"Does anyone have a torch?" Jack asked knowing that no one probably wouldn't.

"Funnily enough when I went to the sunny, bright beach the first thing I wished I had was a torch." Zsa-Zsa replied sarcastically.

Jack rolled his eyes then saw a small glow of light, "Doesn't matter I think we'll almost there."

Soon enough Jack found what seemed to be an old rusty door. He shoved it open and found himself at the side of the Castle.

"We've lived her all of our lives and yet we didn't even realise that this door existed?" Danny asked everyone, "Well clearly we have good eye sight."

"We won't need it with those brightly coloured Meteorot things." Annaka told him.

"Good point." Danny replied, "So what do we do now."

Just then Jack's new communicator went off. After two beeps he answered it.

"Jack here." He told the caller.

"Jack, the computer had located some of those Meteorots down in town. They seem to be looking for you five. Please hurry." James said cutting off the communication.

"Okay then first test of Overdrive." Jack told everyone, "Basically just slot the key into this slit into your communicators then turn like a car engine."

"Got it." Kyle said pulling out his key from his pocket while everyone nodded and did the same.

"Okay new roll call." Jack muttered to himself then shouted out, "Kick into Overdrive!"

"**Mountain Cruiser"**

"**Wind Storm"**

"**Desert Fire"**

"**Bright Star"**

"**Dark Lightning" **

The only thing familiar about the Overdrive powers were the coloured flashes. Luckily they had all remained their own colours. Jack lead the team down the hill from there on it was a race into town. Who knew what trouble the Meteorots could get into? The now Overdrive Defenders had only fought them once. They may have one but at a great cost. The Meteorots ran towards the Jr defenders. First they went in defenceless. If James is telling the truth and these Overdrive uniforms are stronger and more powerful than the JCD ones then they should be fine.

The Meteorots ran towards the Overdrive Defenders and started to attack them with their pirate like swords. Kyle tried his traditional method of kicking again. He pushed his leg out at one unsuspecting Meteorot. Bang, it fell onto the ground in pieces. Kyle observed his new uniform. It was powerful. He kicked the remaining Meteorots surrounding him away. It was the same fate for them.

Annaka quickly noted what Kyle was doing and followed his is suit. Instead, she made her kicks more powerful. She jumped up into the air and kicked down onto the Meteorots from a great height. She watched as they fell into tiny little mechanical pieces. She smiled before turning her attention to the next bunch.

Danny licked kicking the enemy but punching was more of his thing. He was surprised when his punches actually had an effect on the Meteorots as was Zsa-Zsa. The two cousins were punching away at their purple and pink enemies and watching them fall into pieces. Somehow over the fight, they had unexpectedly pair up for a tag team. Unfortunately for the Meteorots they were unstoppable.

Jack ran at his bunch the doubled kicked some and punched others. He was more do what's necessary kind of person. He was glad that it had worked this time. There were only a few of his left. One final kick on each was only needed.

The Overdrive defenders regrouped and powered down. They already loved their overdrive powers. They still found it quiet hard to defeat that many Meteorots and if Astrid sends a robotic monster as well them history could repeat itself. Jack was determined not to let that happen. These powers were staying. **  
**


	4. Blue against Purple

It had been weird losing the JCD powers then gaining the Overdrive ones but Zsa-Zsa was getting used to it, after all it had been one long week. She was curious about Astrid's lightning and telekinesis powers. Actually she was curious about Astrid herself. She had never been mentioned before not even when all of the Defenders had a big family 'meeting' about Ivar and what happened back in 2009.

Astrid didn't scare Zsa-Zsa one bit. Yes, she had destroyed the one thing Zsa-Zsa thought was indestructible but her mysterious and hopefully trustful mentor had supplied then with more power. Astrid may have mutant powers like herself, although as spooky as that was, she could easily defeat that purple haired women with her eyes closed.

That was her first thought of course and how naïve she was. After a week research Zsa-Zsa found out more about this Astrid then Ivar would probably have liked them to know.

"Right." Zsa-Zsa said standing around the circular table in the Jr defenders newly refurbished den. The old den filled with multi coloured bean bags and been redecorated as all 5 of the Jr defenders decided it was time for a change. Now the den consisted off a table and chairs at the back of the room, 2 cream sofa's facing each other in the middle with a flat screen TV behind one and a few of the multi coloured bean bags had been left behind to give the room some colour, "I have conducted some research on Astrid."

"Good." Jack said interrupting her, "What do we need to know?"

"Well she and Ivar's story began when Gildar jumped off that cliff with Neri and Ivar with him. Ivar managed to stay conscious and carried an injured Neri to safety. When they arrived back at that awful forest Neri was almost at deaths door. Ivar thought she was a goner but who comes to save her? Astrid, the Viking witch, descendent of Luke's trustful oracle."

"Brilliant." Danny replied, "Luke has been listening to that Oracle for ages and so did Charles. Who knows what's real and what's lies."

"Not to mention when I went to 2013, I told her vital information to get home." Zsa-Zsa added in, "Who knows if she told Astrid or not."

"She must have weaknesses." Annaka moaned with slight hope, "Everyone Viking has a weakness. Gildar had his hair…"

"What's your's then?" Kyle asked nosily, "Your half Viking."

"Her beloved boyfriend." Danny answered for Annaka, making her roll her eyes, "She can't bear to see me hurt."

"In your dreams." Jack scoffed making everyone laugh except Danny.

The laughing only lasted a few seconds then faded away. They had real issues to sort out and no one was going to help them. Their parents didn't even know about the Overdrive power let alone the JCD gems. Who knows what would happen if they found out that almost every day they have to use that dusty secret passage way just to stop some Meteorots.

"I couldn't find any weaknesses." Zsa-Zsa told the group, "But I imagine that if we work as a team to defeat her then hopefully that will work."

"It worked before." Kyle put in, "We may have been almost defeated but we won."

Soon after Jack dismissed the meeting and each Jr defender left to do their own thing. Zsa-Zsa went to the control room to try and find Astrid's weaknesses or even more information about her. Research was what Zsa-Zsa did best- and making great potions. She was the most academic one out of the 5 of them. Well Kyle seemed very smart and academic but she was older.

It felt like she was back at Jr Splat School learning a new topic except this time it was a real person. Zsa-Zsa could probably scan and analysis this information again and again and yet find nothing more about Astrid then she already did.

If being academic didn't work, Zsa-Zsa would always turn to science. Who knows maybe a new recipe of slime could stop her. She needed to find away before Ivar come back and poisons them for good this time. Zsa-Zsa smiled at that thought and muttered 'good luck with that'. After all Thorne was watching her every move if she was alone. In fact every Sn Defender was. At first the Jr defenders thought it was because of Annaka and Danny officially becoming a couple but after Kyle spotted his mum watching him they finally figured it out.

"Computer I'm going out." Zsa-Zsa said after reading some new information about Astrid, "If I don't come back within 1 hour call the others and my parents."

"Noted." The computer spoke back with different vocal voices. James was still in the process of fixing the computer. The screen was no longer cracked but some of the archives had been lost and the computer had lost its female voice.

Zsa-Zsa opened the secret passage way. If Thorne saw her leaving the Castle alone, he would have chained Jack to her wrist and made the pair have tracking devices on them. She braced herself before entering the dark, dusty passage. Luckily she had learned her lesson and had brought a torch this time. Whether this was wise or not, she was going to find out.

The secret passage was definitely brighter than before and she could see where she was going but the only downside was that some sort of animal kept hurrying along the floor. You could hear it scuffing along the floor. When she eventually made it out of the passage and into the outside, she rushed down the Castle Hill and into the town.

It was obvious now she thought about it. Of course Astrid would be in Pearl Canyon, watching their every move no doubt. The only question was where? There were many places she could be staying but having seen that roughly 30 minutes glimpse at Astrid, that witch was more likely to find her than Zsa-Zsa was trying to find Astrid.

The centre of town was probably the best bet. Zsa-Zsa sat down at one of the benches and waited. Surely enough Astrid came into view alone. This was worrying as clearly someone like Astrid would have brought back up.

"Not very clever coming here alone." Astrid told her with a sickly innocent voice.

"Could say the same about you." Zsa-Zsa replied back.

"Hmm maybe but we both know that I'm much stronger and more powerful than you." Astrid taunted.

"We'll see about that."

Zsa-Zsa looked behind and noticed how empty the centre of town was. No one was in sight. She glanced over at Astrid, who smiled. They were alone.

"If you wish." Astrid replied then turned around to the empty space. She walked towards the centre and poured out a gloopy pink and purple gung. She walked back to Zsa-Zsa still smiling. The gung started to grow into a human like structure. It took Zsa-Zsa one second to realise what was happening.

"Meteorots." She said shocked as they were fully developed.

"Let's see how strong you really are." Astrid said, "Meteorots attack!"

The pink and purple Meteorots ran forward towards Zsa-Zsa, who ducked from their punches and kicks. She had fought them like this and had failed before. She grabbed her metal key.

"Kick into Overdrive!" She shouted, "**Bright Star"**

A bright blue flash appeared throwing back some of the Meteorots. Zsa-Zsa than kicked the remaining 2 away from her. She was winning and Astrid didn't like it. Using her own telekinesis power, she pushed Zsa-Zsa back towards herself and kicked her. Zsa-Zsa fell backwards but managed to control her balance.

"I told you I was stronger." Astrid said hitting Zsa-Zsa with lightning.

Zsa-Zsa just managed to dodge one kick from the Meteorots but that was all. Everyone had the advantage against her.

"**Mountain Cruiser"**

"**Wind Storm"**

"**Desert Fire"**

"**Dark Lightning"**

More coloured flashed appeared by Astrid throwing backwards this time. Her teammates landed on their feet.

"Heard you needed a bit of help." Jack told her, "We'll take of the Meteorots and you take on Astrid."

Zsa-Zsa nodded and ran towards her opponent. Astrid was already on her feet and pushed Zsa-Zsa back with her telekinesis. Zsa-Zsa got back up immediately and kicked Astrid. The witch winced in pain but was still on her feet. She glanced over at the other Overdrive defenders; they were on their last Meteorot.

She turned to Zsa-Zsa and smiled, "Those leave the battle, come back to fight a bigger one."

Astrid disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. Zsa-Zsa powered down annoyed.

"I almost had her." She shouted angrily.

"We know." Danny told her, "That's why she left."

"We'll get her back." Kyle reassured her, "We always do."

"Yeah, she only took on you." Annaka told her, "Whether she likes it or not, she's taking on all five Overdrive defenders."

Zsa-Zsa smiled and walked back with her friends to the castle. She would get that witch another day.


	5. Black against a attacker?

Jack hated training. There was no point. He decided that he knew all of the martial Arts moves he needs to know but James had insisted on team training. So there he was stood in the middle of the circle. The circle was made up of his team mates, all stood evenly spaced between each other. This was pointless.

"Will one of you 'attack' me?" Jack asked tired of waiting.

His four team mates looked at each other. Annaka ran forward and tried to kick Jack. He grabbed her foot before she could and dropped her to the floor.

"Oww!" She exclaimed when she hit the floor with a thud, "I thought this was team training."

"Sorry." Jack apologised, "But this is ridic-"

The next thing Jack knew, he was lying on the floor beside Annaka, who was laughing at him. He leant up using his elbows and saw Kyle standing in front of him.

"Never underestimate the child." Kyle said speaking in a whispered Jackie Chan like voice.

"Very funny." He replied standing up, "Training dismissed."

"You do realise that it has only been what? 10 minutes." Danny said looking at his watch, "I though James said we needed to do at least 30 minutes."

"Since when did you listen to James?" Jack asked him.

"Since we found out that the purple haired witch of the west could teleport herself anywhere meaning no chance of capturing her." Zsa-Zsa said still clearly annoyed about last week's fight.

Jack acknowledged what Zsa-Zsa had said but at this precise moment in time didn't really care. He was tired, bored and slightly wet from the rain pouring down outside. His mum had warned him of a thunderstorm happening during the day and about something else- which he couldn't remember due to watching, in confusion, Kook and Gildar looked at each other slightly scared then looked at one of Shaiden's cats.

Jack was in his room reading a magazine. It was the only readable thing in his bedroom except 'Gildar, The Golding Viking.' And it was very unlikely that Jack would ever, ever, ever pick up that book and read it.

The thunderstorm had started with flashes of lightning every few seconds. Jack was incredibly bored now, reading the magazine hadn't been as time consuming as he had hoped. He leaped off his bed and grabbed his black hoodie. He crashed down the stairs and left the Castle despite the protest and questions of the other defenders.

It was pouring it down now. The rain fell heavily through Jack's hoodie making his t-shirt drenched. His jeans were absorbing the water so now it was harder to walk. He had no idea where he was going or why he even left the castle.

He smiled as he remembered the reason. Everyone left it to him to sort out the Jr defenders. James expected him to do everything with them and be with them 24/7. That man even had the nerve of shouting at Jack when Zsa-Zsa left and started to fight Astrid on her own. The other defenders sis back him up but James insisted that he was right and of course brought all of the SnR Defenders into the argument. James, obviously, had to make up an argument because funnily enough telling Thorne or Crocness that their only daughter had been fighting a witch with mutant powers wouldn't have gone down well.

By this time, Jack had walked into the local café, dripping wet and slightly cold. The owner was kind enough to lend him a towel, which he was grateful for.

Once dried, he ordered a hot chocolate and sat in the window watching the town square. It was deserted. No surprise there. The rain had turned to hail and now pieces of ice rocks were falling from the sky. He was so busy staring out through the window that he jumped when his communicator went off.

"Yes." Jack replied rather quick and annoyed, "What is it?"

"Something new has been detected in the town centre." James told him, "I trust you'll get the Jr defenders together."

"Actually I'm in town already so that's up to you." Jack said turning off his communicator knowing that James would complain about what he just said.

Jack drank the rest of his hot chocolate quickly, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and then ran off into the town centre. Luckily it wasn't far as the rain had got heavier bit the hail and stopped. He reached the town centre then looked on in confusion.

James was right this was something new. It wasn't a Meteorot or a robot monster. It looked Human. Jack stepped forwards and studied the unknown thing in front of him.

"Oh my…" Jack said in complete shock. He might as well have been fighting Cybermen from Doctor Who because that was what it was almost like. It was a human with machine functions that seemed to be placed or surgically placed on.

"What are you?" He asked.

"We are what are left of the attackers." The Cyberman like thing replied, "We are Astrid's human Meteorots."

Jack studied hard then figured it out. The attackers hadn't attacked the castle in a while because they had all been turned into this. Ever since this all began with the powers gems and Ivar, the attackers had all been captured. This was bad because they would be more powerful and the rain wouldn't electrocute them.

Before Jack had a chance to move, he was knocked to the ground and saw the Human Meteorot looking up at him.

"Déjà vu" Jack thought to himself as he stood back up, "I think it's time to add a little more power into the equation. Kick into Overdrive!"

"**Dark Lightning"**

The familiar black flash appeared and Jack was suited up. The human Meteorot seemed to know the routine and started attacking immediately. Jack managed to block his opponent's punches at first but then it became harder. It seemed the metal implants gave the 'attacker' quicker attacks. When one punch ended, a kick quickly followed, he was starting to lose track. The rain was pouring down heavier now. It was making the ground slippy. Luckily, that came to Jacks advantage as the human Meteorot slipped.

Finally Jack grabbed the metal hand and spun the Meteorot to the ground. A normal Meteorot would be broken and malfunctioning by now instead the human Meteorot lay on the ground wincing in pain. Jack was clueless in what to do. He powered down and started to walk away with the rain dripping off his forehead.

"Aren't you going to destroy me?" The human Meteorot shouted as Jack walked away.

"Maybe another time." Jack replied.

On the way back to the Castle he, literally, ran into his teammates.

"Whoa, stop there." He said grabbing Zsa-Zsa and stopping the others, "The threat had been sorted."

"Already?" Zsa-Zsa asked surprised, "That was quick."

"We saw that it was half human." Annaka said, "What was that all about."

"No idea." Jack replied, "But I've dealt with it, now let's go back and get dry."

The other Jr defenders nodded, even though they had only been outside for a few minutes, their clothes were absolutely drenched. There was no doubt that they would be shouted out. At least the hail had stopped.

James was waiting in the main room when they arrived. He dismissed blue, green, red and yellow overdrive but wanted black to stay behind. Jack knew he was in trouble. James Cadhit was glaring at him.

"I'm surprised at you Jack." He spoke, "Charles spoke better of you."

"Well even the greatest minds could be wrong." Jack argued back.

"Maybe but what you did today was reckless and very immature. You're lucky that the human Meteorot thingy slipped. Don't do it again. Dismissed."

Jack nodded and ran back upstairs to the Jr defenders den. He sat down onto the sofa and turned on the TV. He couldn't help but thing about that metal attacker; they couldn't be the only one. Astrid must have more somewhere. He heard Thorne mention earlier about the lack of attackers. Maybe this was just an upgrade? Whatever it was, the Overdrive defenders will be ready.


	6. Green against time

Someone was tugging at his arm. He hated that. He opened his eyes slightly and saw the coloured red digits on his clock 8:48. Danny Peck did not get up before 9. He turned round and faced his yellow team mate.

"Annaka's going to kill you." He said with a slightly amused tone to his voice.

"What have I supposedly forgotten to do now?" Danny asked leaning up.

"6 month anniversary." Kyle said smiling before leaving the green overdrive defenders to groan in realisation.

"She is going to kill me."

It's not that Danny forget on purpose, It's just due to the fact that, well, Astrid has been trying to kill them and now she had half human Meteorots now. She was upping her game. James couldn't believe it yesterday when Jack came back and told him. James had been working all night.

Once Danny got down the stairs and entered the living room. He scanned and heard for Annaka. Okay it was their 6 month anniversary and he was trying to avoid her? Not a great start! He hoped that the kitchen was currently an Annaka free zone. He peeked in and silently cheered when he saw Jack munching on a piece of toast. Danny swiftly entered.

"You've forgotten haven't you?" Jack asked before Danny even reached any food.

"It's been a long week." Danny replied, "And some evil witch is trying to kill me. Surely I'm allowed to forget some things."

"Yes." Jack said thinking, "But maybe a 6 month anniversary isn't one of them."

"I could help you." Kyle said smiling from the doorway, "I could entertain and postpone Annaka from finding you."

"Thank you!" Danny exclaimed, "That would be helpful."

"For a _small_ price of course." Kyle finished off.

"You've got to be kidding me." Danny said and Jack laughed, "What do you want?"

"There's this new cookery book out and I need to have it." Kyle explained, "Its only $10."

"Why can't you be a normal teenager and ask for a video game?" Danny moaned knowing he would have to go to the book shop, "Or just some money."

"Is that a deal?" Kyle asked hopefully.

"Yes." Danny replied.

"The student has out smarted the master." Kyle said smirking before running off to find Annaka, "You have 1 hour."

Danny ate his piece of toast. Jack was still smiling at the scene that just preformed in front of him then slapped Danny on the back indicating that he should get a move on.

He seemed to have understood the message as he finished his toast in one bite and raced back up the stairs to get dressed. On his way, he was stopped by Gildar, who kindly blocked his way making it hard to get passed.

"Um Hi Gildar." Danny said trying to get through, "I really need to go."

"Out shopping?" Gildar asked suspiciously.

"Why?" Danny asked.

"Don't think I don't know what day it is." Gildar told him making himself full height.

"Why would I undermine your intelligence to tell the days?" Danny asked slightly confused, "It's a Friday."

"That's not what I meant!" Gildar exclaimed, "It's like talking to Kook sometimes. I mean it's your and Annaka's 6 month Anniversary and I know you've forgotten."

"Why does everyone presume I've forgotten?" Danny asked annoyed.

"Have you forgotten?" Gildar asked back.

"Yes." Danny replied quietly.

Gildar eyed Danny for a second then moved out of the way. Danny kindly smiled then raced back to getting dressed. He now had less than an hour. When he jumped onto the bedroom corridor, he heard girl voices. He stood outside Annaka's door and listened in.

"So I was thinking red lisp stick to go with my dress." Annaka said clearly excited about their lunch date.

"I don't know. Won't it be too much red?" Zsa-Zsa asked. That was strange. Since when did Zsa-Zsa give out fashion advice?

"Kyle, what do you think?" Annaka asked.

"Umm." Danny heard the youngest defenders say, "I agree."

Danny quietly walked away. Kyle really wanted that cookery book. Once Danny entered his room and rushed to get dressed, meaning he found the first few things in his wardrobe and shoved them on quickly. He quickly gelled up his air and ran back down the corridor and out of the castle door.

45 minutes.

It would at least take 15 to get into the heart of the town, then 15 back to the castle. So he had 30 minutes to grab Kyle's book and find a decent present for Annaka. He'd better get a move on then. The journey into Pearl Canyon was the easiest part. It was all downhill from the castle. It was just very boring. Nothing really changed in Pearl Canyon. If Danny had time, who would have gone through the park to get into the centre of the town.

The park one was of the best things about Pearl Canyon. It wasn't a children's park although it did have a play area. It was just two massive fields with a path in the middle. Of course there was a small artificial lake but apart from that it was mostly greenery surrounded by many trees.

Once Danny arrived into town, in record time, he ran into the bookshop and located new arrivals. There it was. Kyle's cookery Book. He flicked through to see what dishes Kyle would be cooking. They seemed decent enough and with Vane there, they would be okay unlike the Jr defenders group effort. The comment varied from "If we're quick on performing CPR then that chicken would live" to " I didn't realise cook peas had a ring of ice on the outside."

A total disaster. Danny smiled back at the memory and entered the checkout queue. The women smiled at him then told him the total.

"$15." She said still smiling. Danny's face dropped slightly. This one hour of postponing Annaka better be worth it. He grabbed the bag and raced into Pearl Canyon's shopping mall. To say it was small was an understatement. Pearl Canyon was a very big town. The shopping Mall was located with the industry section of the town along with the tall buildings that office people would commonly work it. The park was located west of that. In the middle was the heart of the town with its cafes and restaurants. South of the town was the Castle, seen from miles on top of the hill and North of Pearl Canyon, the very useful B&B.

Danny scanned the mall for any jewellers or make- up shops. He had less than 30 minutes now. He raced into jewellers. Why were there so many types of necklaces? Which one did Annaka have? He looked around. A silvery heart shaped one caught his eye. The silver heart had a smaller red gem in the middle.

"A very good choice." A woman from behind Danny said making him jump, "Very popular with the ladies."

"Yeah, it's for my girlfriend. 6 month anniversary." Danny told her like she wanted to know, "Very special."

"Indeed." She said back, "Would you like this one?"

Danny looked back at the silver heart necklace. He really did like it and he was rushed for time plus Annaka always told him that silver goes with everything.

"Yep." Danny replied.

The assistant smiled and wrapped the necklace up. He paid the high amount and ran out of the shopping mall. 15 minutes left. Danny pondered. It wouldn't matter if he was a few minutes late. After all it was a sunny day and the park was lovely in August.

He smiled and confidently walked of the shopping mall. He knew a short cut anyway so began walking nearer and nearer the park. You could see the trees from anywhere in Pearl Canyon, they were that big.

He saw the park gate up ahead. Inscrolled on top of the gate was Pearl Canyon Park. Already he could see the happy families lounging about on their picnic blankets. He smiled at them while holding the little pink jewellery bag and the bag containing Kyle's expensive cookery book. He glanced down to the lake. It was so peaceful.

Then people started screaming and running out of the park. Danny stopped and looked around as people shoved passed him. He ran deeper into the park and found the source of the screaming. Meteorots.

"Can't you guys just take one day off?" He asked them.

The group of Meteorots turned around and noticed Danny, who signed and placed the small bag down on the ground. The Meteorots started to move closer.

"Kick into Overdrive!" Danny shouted when he knew no one was around.

"**Desert Fire!"**

The Meteorots took a step back from the green flash then started to attack. It was only 10am and yet he was out here fighting. Danny jumped high to avoid one of their strikes. These Meteorots have certainly upped their game. They seemed to be made out of stronger material now. Danny kicked one. Normally, that would have done the trick but the Meteorot stood back up and started to attack again. Danny punched the same one then it fell to pieces.

"Okay." Danny said looking at the Meteorots, "Only 2,4,8,10,14… Oh come on this isn't fair."

They took no notice as they moved towards Danny, he kicked them away then back flipped even further away from them. This was not good at all. From the corner of his eye, he could see familiar coloured flashes. He smiled in relief.

"Mountain Cruiser Ready!" Kyle shouted.

"Wind fire Ready!" Annaka shouted.

"Bright Start Ready!" Zsa-Zsa shouted as well.

"Dark Lightning Ready!" Jack finally shouted.

The Meteorots split into 5 groups and ran towards their chosen Overdrive Defender. The other Overdrive Defenders realised that the Meteorots were header to defeat this time as well. The looked over at Danny, who kicked one to the ground then jumped on it, finishing the machine off. The others followed his lead.

The others finished off their pair quickly then powered down while Danny finished off his other too mostly by punching them and then kicking them down to the ground. As battles go, this was the quickest.

Danny powered down and ran towards his team mates, "For a moment there I thought I was in trouble."

"Well, the half damaged computer can still detect Meteorots." Zsa-Zsa told him.

Danny smiled then faced Annaka, who was smiling at him with her hand on her hip. Clearly, she was still getting ready when they were called to battle.

"Hey." She greeted, "I haven't seen you all morning. What were you doing here?"

"Oh you know getting some fresh air." Danny told her.

"Buying a present." Jack said next.

"Getting my cookery book." Kyle finished off.

Danny smiled at Annaka, then turned to face his two other team mates. He gave them a glare. Kyle somehow had already retrieved his cookery book and was flicking through it.

"Yes I did." Danny said, "That book wasn't cheap you know."

"I know." Kyle said back still flicking through it, "I think I'll make some sort of chicken tonight."

Kyle closed the book and smiled at Danny then walked away towards the other side of the park. Jack slapped him on the back again while walking in the same direction. Zsa-Zsa slowly departed from Annaka and caught up with her two fellow team mates.

"You forgot." Annaka stated when they were out of view.

"Maybe… yes." Danny admitted picking up the small pink bag, "It's been a long week and I'm not that good and remembering things. Oh here's your present… so I just kind of forgot then Astrid keeps sending Meteorots then we have to fight them off…"

Danny realised that he had stopped speaking. He felt something warm on his lips which then parted away. He looked at Annaka, who was gleaming at him with the necklace in her hand.

"It's fine." Annaka told him grabbing his hand with her free one, "At least you remembered, kind of."

Danny smiled for what seemed to be 100th time this morning as he walked towards the castle. 


	7. Brother, can you spare a minute? Part 1

Kyle was in the main room. It was quiet. Too quiet. He didn't like it. No one was shouting, cheering or causing mayhem. It was just peaceful. Kyle looked at a few new recipes from his cookery book, that Danny 'kindly' brought him, a few hours ago. Annaka and Danny were still out on their date. Maybe that's why it was so quiet. The troublesome two had left the Castle.

While looking through a delicious Chicken Tikka recipe, Kyle heard a knock at the door. He jumped off the chair, placing his book down carefully then walked over to the door. He opened it and saw 2 male adults grinning at him.

"Kyle Temple." The Oldest one their said, "You've grown."

Kyle stared at the two of them. How on earth did they know his name? Where they strangers? Oh great, they were going to kidnap him. Where was his overdrive key?

The stranger that spoke saw the confused and scared look on his face and decided to introduce himself, "You probably don't remember me. I'm Svan Graphum; this is Knut Graphum, my younger brother."

"Graphum?" Kyle asked, "Gildar's brothers? Mum's cousins?"

"Yes." Knut replied, "Can we come in?"

Kyle opened the door wider and the two brothers entered the Castle looking around. They hadn't been here in years. Kyle ran off to find Gildar. He would be surprised!

"Hey Knut." Svan called over, "Do you think this is the guy Annaka's dating?"

Knut walked over and saw that Svan was holding a photo of a boy with light brown hair, wearing a bright green hoodie, smiling his face off.

"I think so." Knut agreed, "Speaking of Annaka, I wander where she is?"

The brothers were discussing the other defenders when they heard Kyle come back in and mutter "Told you they were here."

The brothers looked at the door and smiled. They hadn't changed a bit. Faetal was smiling happily at her cousins with Vane beside her, currently giving Kyle what appeared to be $20. The brother saw Gildar looking slightly shocked. After all they hadn't seen each other in 15 years.

"Come on Golden Boy, give us a hug." Svan greeted while Gildar got a push from Ballista and slowly hugged his brother.

"I can't believe it." He said, "What are you doing here?"

"You know just passing by." Knut explained, "Plus we haven't seen Annaka in ages and we remembered that you lived here as well."

"Very funny." Gildar stated despite Knut's attempt to try and make it true, "Where are Rolf, Arne and Harald?"

"In the town somewhere, they wanted to do some shopping." Svan explained, "Their going to meet up with us later. Don't worry Faetal, we haven't forgotten you."

Svan looked over at Faetal, who was walking towards then aiming to also give them a hug, "I've missed you guys."

"We've missed you." Svan told her then looked over her shoulder, "I can't believe that is baby Kyle."

Kyle looked at Svan confused. Svan smiled, "I haven't seen you since you were 14 months. You were so adorable. Could have put Annaka to shame."

Gildar's smile turned into a frown while Vane laughed slightly making Gildar glare at him. At this moment Thorne entered the room and sighed when he saw the two brothers smiling away.

"Oh great." Thorne said, "Just what this castle needed, two more Gildar's!"

"Hey, Thorne." Knut greeted then remembered that Thorne had a daughter, "Your daughter's not around is she?"

Thorne smiled; clearly his daughter had some sort of history with the Graphum brothers that they didn't want to admit. He studied the brothers clearly; Svan was still smiling but was watching Thorne at the same time while Knut was glancing around the room looking for something. To be honest, Thorne was surprised; pranks were normally Danny's thing.

"You guys must be hungry." Ballista said breaking the silence, "Would you like some food?"

"Yes." Svan said turning his attention to Ballista, "That would be great."

"Good, Kyle can make it for you." Gildar explained looking at Kyle, who was far from pleased.

Meanwhile in the suburbs of Pearl Canyon, Astrid was sitting around watching what the weak would call TV. She loved it, watching all of this tiny people do stupid things. It was great fun plus it wasted her time when she had nothing to do. She had enough Meteorots despite losing some this morning plus those Overdrive defenders were probably expecting another attack soon.

Suddenly she heard a knock at the door. She got up off her chair and answered it. In her door way were the two people she didn't expect to see around Pearl Canyon.

"Ivar? Neri?" She questioned, "What are you two doing here?"

"We need to talk to you of course." Ivar stated as if it was obvious, "Now let us inside."

Astrid removed herself from her door way stood in the middle of her small living room. Neri very slowly sat down in one of the chairs while Ivar went for the standing option as well. There was a moments of silence between the trio, that was interrupted by Ivar.

"You don't seem to have weakened the defenders like you promised." Ivar stated.

"I did then they got new powers, ones that seem to be stronger." Astrid told him.

"The longer they stand, the harder they will become to defeat." Neri stated.

Astrid looked at Neri; her spells seem to be working. She looked younger than the last time she saw her but she wasn't getting any stronger, no doubt Ivar would want her to fix that as well. Neri had avoided death for years but when it was almost time, Ivar had called upon Astrid to save her. Once she did, Ivar was grateful. She was pleased that she magic had worked but she didn't realise that she would be working for Ivar that moment on. She had heard of the JCD defenders and that their power came from the power gems. When she came into Ivar's life, they must have been the JCD defenders for 2 weeks, at most. That's when Ivar ordered her to destroy the defenders.

She had tried before destroying the power gems. Clearly, Kyle's Lionheart power wasn't enough to teleport 5 people away, and if they did end up half way around the world, whoso to say that wasn't an error?

"There's also another thing." Ivar spoke dismissing Astrid from her thoughts, "My brothers are back in town."

"Is that a problem?" Astrid asked.

Ivar laughed, he was almost in hysteria then he glanced at Astrid, "Is that a problem, no my dear girl, it isn't, Why destroy 1 brother when you can destroy them all?"


	8. Brother, can you spare a minute? Part 2

"I guess we better make our way back to the castle." Rolf said in between biting an apple, "The other two will get worried."

"I suppose so." Harald agreed struggling with all of the bags, "Plus we haven't seen Gildar in forever."

"He's going to be soo happy when he sees me." Arne told the other two brothers, "I was his favourite."

"You were not his favourite!" Rolf exclaimed, "I was."

"No I was!" Harald said slightly louder than the other two, "Plus I'm the oldest one here."

"That doesn't count!" Rolf argued back.

"Hey why don't we ask Annaka?" Arne said pointing to a figure sitting down on, what seemed to be a picnic blanket, while talking to a boy, "She'll know."

Annaka was currently talking to Danny and generally having a good time. The other defenders knew how much Annaka loved Anniversaries and so didn't disturb her or Danny throughout their anniversary date. Clearly three people didn't get the message.

"Hey Annaka!" Harald shouted picking her up off the picnic blanket and spinning her around, "How are you?"

Once Annaka was placed back down onto the ground, she looked at Danny confused; he gave her the same facial expression back. She then observed the three men around her and identified them as her Uncles.

"Uncle Harald!" She exclaimed sweetly then dropped the act, "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting Gildar." He replied, "I know that he can't live without his favourite brother."

Annaka was about to question Harald's claim when someone beat her too it, "No, I'm his favourite brother!"

Annaka turned around to see Rolf, "Hi."

Rolf nodded back then turned his attention to Danny, who was still sitting on the ground, very much confused, "Why are you here?"

Danny, insulted by this comment, stood up and faced the three Graphum brothers, "Annaka and I are on our 6 month anniversary date."

There was a moment of silence then a burst of laughter. Harald was laughing while clutching his stomach. Arne had completely forgotten about the shopping, which was now lying on the floor, and was almost in hysterics while Rolf laughed then looked at Danny.

"You're serious?" He asked making Danny nod. Rolf then nudged the two brothers and started to pick up the bags, "Well, we better be going. Nice seeing you again."

The three brothers smiled their niece and her now boyfriend and raced off through the park. Danny stood up alongside Annaka. The couple watched them, clearly they were still arguing about who was Gildar's favourite brother.

"So who is Gildar's favourite brother?" Danny asked making Annaka sighed with annoyance, "What?"

"It's Svan, okay." Annaka replied. Suddenly she heard on of their communicators beep. She looked over at Danny, who was about to answer his.

Back at the Castle, Kyle was trying to manually locate the Meteorots in Pearl Canyon while Jack was contacting Danny.

"According to the computer, there are some Meteorots around Pearl Canyon." Jack explained, he then looked at Kyle, who had somehow managed to locate them, "They seem to be near the shopping centre."

Jack ended his conversation with Danny just as Zsa-Zsa came rushing down the stairs, "What's happening?"

"Meteorots down by the shopping centre." Kyle explained getting out his overdrive key.

"Do you want to call it?" Jack asked a surprised Kyle.

"Really?" Kyle asked ecstatic, he never got to call it, "Kick into Overdrive!"

"**Mountain Cruiser"**

"**Bright Star"**

"**Dark Lightning"**

At the park, Danny had found his overdrive Key and nodded at Annaka, who checked that no one would see them.

"**Wind Storm"**

"**Desert Fire"**

The red and green overdrive defenders ran towards the shopping centre. They could hear the Meteorots up ahead. People were running away but seemed to relax slightly when they saw the red and green defenders.

The pair stopped around 5 metres away from the Meteorots. They heard running from behind them and were glad that their team mates stood beside them. The Meteorots seemed to realise that 5 different coloured defenders were watching them. The fight had begun.

From behind a wide tree, Astrid peeked out smiling. Her, (well Ivar's) plan had worked. Those Meteorots should keep those defenders busy while Ivar paid a little unexpected visit to his beloved brothers.

Meanwhile at the Castle, Arne, Rolf and Harald had joined Gildar, Svan and Knut and were catching up on the last 15 years.

"So you just disappeared from the face of the earth." Arne exclaimed, "When we visited the castle during Annaka's childhood, you or Ballista was never here. That Charles always said that you were out."

"Have you ever thought that possibly he was telling the truth?" Gildar asked his brothers knowing that it was a lie. He couldn't tell his brothers that he had been living somewhere completely different due to an unstable Lionheart force.

"I always thought there was another option." A voice from behind them said.

The brothers turned around to the Castle doors only to see their nightmare had come back to haunt them. The 5 brothers stood protectively in front of Gildar, who took a step closer to them.

"I wouldn't bother trying to protect him." Ivar said entering the castle slowly, "It's not just him I want now."

"We thought you were dead!" Knut shouted with a little bit if stutter in his voice.

"Surprise!" Ivar shouted smiling, "I came back, and I always do."

Svan stood up now and faced his older brother. There was only a year separating these two brothers. It was hard to believe that 30 years ago, these two would always be together. Nothing would separate them.

"Well maybe next time, you'll stay dead." Svan muttered in front of Ivar's face, "It will probably be the only thing you would get right."

"Or maybe it'll be the only thing you will get wrong." Ivar muttered back.

All of the brothers were standing in the main room. Gildar was surprised that Kook or Thorne hadn't entered already trying to be nosy. Gildar moved slowly backwards, pulling on Knut as he did it. Knut turned around and seemed to have got the message. He kicked Arne's leg. He winced and shot an angry glare at his brother but then realised that they were trying to escape. Arne then grabbed into Rolf and Harald and dragged them back by the sleeve. Those two brothers were less than impressed.

Gildar was now standing in the corridor in between the living room and main room. He glanced back, no one was there. That was both a bad and good sign. Good because he didn't want to panic or allow Ivar to hurt anyone, bad because where were they?

Svan was still having a stare off with Ivar. The two brothers could read each other like a book. Even now. Svan knew what his brothers were doing. He was just simply waiting for the right moment. Svan scanned Ivar for any weapons. He couldn't see any. He looked back at Ivar, they were eye level. Suddenly…

"Oww!" Ivar shouted clutching downwards towards his leg. Svan had kicked him.

"Now guys!" Svan shouted to his brothers, who ran like the wind towards the nearest exit.

The brothers jumped out of the living room window and found themselves by the outskirts of the nearby forest. Gildar silently thought about how pleased Shaiden would have been off his ninja skills. Svan tried to make a dash into the forest but where stopped by some Meteorots.

"I'm not being funny." Knut said looking at the advancing robots, "But isn't this job for those Overdrive people."

"Yeah, those 5 are always on the news fighting these multi-coloured freaks." Arne agreed.

"Doesn't matter now." Svan shouted, "Looks like it's up to the Graphum Brothers to defend themselves."

The brothers ran towards the Meteorots and started fighting them. Ivar came to the window. He looked at the battle as much as he would have loved to take part, his leg was injured and those run away live to battle another day.

The brothers worked as a team destroying the Meteorots. They seemed easier to beat on the TV than in real life. The brothers were lying on the ground now, next to each other. The Meteorots were not giving up. Neither were the Graphum brothers.

Suddenly out of nowhere, an arrow hit one of them in the chest, sending it into mechanical fault. The brothers turned around.

"That's how you do it Dwane!" Gildar shouted happily.

"It's Vane!" The other defenders shouted back before running to Gildar's aid.

The defenders mixed themselves within the Viking brothers. The only defenders missing were the Jr ones.

"Charge!" Knightriss shouted.

The 15 adults ran towards the Meteorots who started to walk back. The defenders weren't letting them go that easily. They punched kicked each Meteorot once before throwing them into a heap of mechanical mess.

Once Gildar threw that last one, everyone cheered and fell to the ground in shear tiredness. Wait till the Jr defenders heard about this.


	9. Red in a mood

Once the 5 Graphum brothers had left after their run in with their astray eldest, Annaka found herself rather bored and in a very bad mood. She lay in her bed listening for… well… anything. Usually there was someone yelling at someone normally Thorne yelling at her beloved boyfriend. That was another thing. Her beloved boyfriend was out for the day with his parents. Something about life skills. Annaka did have to admit Kook basically dragged Danny out of the door and Gildar did comment on their dramatic good bye from each other. A knock at the door made Annaka her turn head from glancing up at her bedroom ceiling to the bedroom door.

"Come in." She called lying on her bed.

The door opened to present Kyle, who walked into the room and stood next to her bed.

"I've been forced to do an activity with you." Kyle honestly said which made Annaka smile, she loved how honest he was, "So is there anything you have in mind?"

"Shopping?" Annaka suggested. She then looked up at Kyle's disgusted face and concluded that maybe it wasn't the best suggestion she had, "Or maybe we could play a board game?"

"Right, because no one ever cheats or throws the game in the fire." Kyle told her.

Kyle was referring back a few days ago when Knightriss had the 'brilliant' idea of playing monopoly with Jack, Skabb, Thorne, Kyle and Annaka. The game ran smoothly at first then the rules started to bend slightly.

"So that's $1100 you own me." Kyle told Skabb happily.

"The rent is $800." Skabb told Kyle clearly, "Where on earth did you get $1100 from."

"Well that's only rent. You need to think about electricity, water supply and of course location." Kyle told him, "So that adds on $300."

"That's absurd!" Knightriss said, "Water and electricity cost much more than that!"

"Don't make this worse." Skabb hissed then looked over at Annaka, who was arranging all the money she had into piles, "Annaka, could you possibly lend me a loan. I'll pay you back I promise."

"I would love to Skabb." Annaka said still sorting her money into piles, "But you've been in prison 3 times already and you avoided paying your tax."

"That was 5 turns ago." Skabb said trying to persuade her, "All I need is $200."

~Ooooo~

"In fairness you should have given him the money." Kyle told Annaka.

"Maybe but there is nothing else to do in the castle, everything's dull without Dannikins." Annaka sulked.

"Dannikins?" Kyle questioned while Annaka nodded, "Okay, slightly strange, how about we try out that new smoothie place?"

Annaka nodded and jumped off the bed. Recently, a new smoothie bar had opened up in town. The building before used to be coffee shop. Zsa-Zsa and Jack used to hang out there loads when they were younger. Despite it being open for only a week, everyone was boasting about its excellent service and tasty smoothies.

"Aren't you going to be cold?" Kyle asked Annaka as she stood up. She looked down at what she was wearing: A short red skirt, a white crop top and red slip on pumps.

"I'll be fine." Annaka told him. After all it was August.

Kyle nodded and the pair left the bedroom and headed out into town only to be stopped by Gildar, who seemingly wanted to know every detail about where they were going.

"Australia." Kyle replied to Gildar's question, "We've talked it over and we decided that Australia is perfect for this time of year, so we're just off to book some plane tickets now."

"Very funny, kid whose name I totally haven't forgotten," Gildar said making Kyle look annoyed, "No seriously, where are you going"

"The new smoothie place." Annaka told him, "Well we're trying to get there."

"Fine." Gildar replied, "Off you go."

Annaka smiled sweetly then walked out of the castle door with Kyle following in tow. She hated the fact that all of the defenders were watching their every move. It was typical. You get poisoned by your crazy uncle once… then everyone assumes it's going to happen again.

Annaka focused on the route ahead still quite annoyed at her parents… well… everyone's parents. She stopped walking to see where they were only to find that Kyle wasn't standing next to her. She scanned around for him and found him running towards her.

"Could you slow down?" Kyle asked out of breathe, "I only wanted to walk to the smoothie place, not run."

Annaka looked down at Kyle, who was now catching his breath, if she wasn't in a bad mood today, she would have some sympathy or maybe laugh and apologise but today wasn't that day.

"We should hurry up." Annaka told him bluntly before walking on herself.

Kyle was about to reply, when a weird gooey monster jumped down in front of Annaka, who jumped back.

"Eww, that is disgusting." Annaka commented as Kyle rushed up to her, "I take it this is Astrid's handy work."

"I guess so." Kyle said reaching into his jean pocket.

"Kick into Overdrive!" Annaka shouted.

"**Mountain Cruiser"**

"**Wind Storm"**

The yellow and red flashes appeared. Annaka ran towards the monster straight away. No threat. No plan. No thought. Kyle stood at the back like a spectator watching an almighty performance. Annaka was kicking and punching the monster now. Kyle could see the goo splat onto her Overdrive uniform. It was a good thing she was in a bad mood.

"Kyle!" She shouted, "Are you going to help me or not"?

Kyle sighed and started to run towards the monster as well. He kicked low while Annaka kicked high. The goo exploded onto their suits. Annaka's red had now turned a dark violent purple while Kyle still had some yellow. The monster was slowly shrinking.

Annaka was still punching with all her might. Why was everyone out to get her today? First Ivar tries to kill her then her dad. Kook and Shaiden take Danny away from her and now this monster is trying to stop her from having a smoothie and to top it all off Zsa-Zsa and Jack hadn't even come to help them yet.

Annaka realised the she had stopped fighting leaving Kyle on his own. She stepped back into battle and gave the monster one final punch. The goo exploded everywhere. They might as well have been the purple Overdrive Defenders.

Annaka powered down with Kyle following. They looked around. All that remained was some purple goo splashed on the ground.

"Kyle!" She called walking off, "Do you want a smoothie or not?"

Kyle ran after her. Shortly after the fight they arrived at the smoothie place which was absolutely packed with people. Somehow the pair managed to get to the bar and order their drinks to go. Neither of them wanted to stay here or pay. Annaka flipped a coin and smiled slightly as it was decided that Kyle had to pay for the Summer Fruit and Raspberry smoothie.

Annaka walked outside and waited for Kyle to emerge. Once he did. He gave a pink smoothie cup to Annaka and a yellow one for himself and the pair slowly walked back to the castle through the park.

As soon as they entered the Castle, Kyle threw his smoothie cup into the bin and cheering as he managed to get it in from the distance while Annaka threw hers in the bin vertically then stormed off the have a word with Jack or Zsa-Zsa depending on which one she found first. Unfortunately, it was Jack.

"Where on earth were you?" She asked violently making Jack looked at her in surprise.

"I'm sorry?" He asked clearly not knowing what she was on about.

"The attacker with the goo monster." She told him, "Thanks for helping."

"We weren't aware there was any attack." Jack told her, "Honest. The computer didn't pick up anything."

"Whatever! Next time just be there!" Annaka shouted storming into her bedroom and slamming the door shut.

"Someone's got her feathers in a twizzle." A voice from behind her said.

Annaka fiercely turned around only to discover that Danny was lying on top of her covers messing around with one of Annaka's magazines.

"Oh you eventually returned." Annaka sarcastically said snatching the magazine from Danny.

"What has got into you today?" Danny asked as he pulled Annaka onto the bed next to him, "Seriously, you've never been this annoyed at something."

"It's nothing!" She told him sternly as she tried to get up off the bed but failed as Danny pulled her into a hug.

She knew there was no getting out of this. Also it was too late. She was snuggled into Danny's chest. He would have realised by now as well. Annaka Graphum did something she hadn't done in 7 years. Cried.

Danny was aware that his t-shirt was getting wet. Plus he felt Annaka shaking slight and sobbing her heart out quietly. He rested his head on top of hers and waited until she had finished. He started to play with her soft and shiny hair, twisting it around his finger, making it slightly curly. He had only seen her cry once and that was 11 years ago.

Around 5 minutes later. Annaka had managed to stop the tears from flowing and had created a random wet patch in the middle of Danny's light green t-shirt. She wriggled out of Danny's grasp and sat up leaning back against the bed. Danny copied her actions and waited for her to speak.

"Why is my family so messed up?" She asked with her voice shaking slightly.

"Who knows?" Danny replied, "Maybe it's just bad luck or just how things turned out. You have 6 Uncles; one of them was always going to turn evil. Plus if it wasn't your family then it probably would have been Zsa-Zsa's. That's a family I don't want to mess with even now."

Annaka smiled at the remark slightly, then tilted her head onto Danny's shoulders, "I remember that Laura would always say that despite how messed up the world seems or how lost some one is. It doesn't mean that they've gone forever, they've just lost their way."

"Yeah I remember." Danny muttered.

"But Ivar and Neri have lost their way for 23 years and every time I come to face them. I try to help them on their way back to themselves but it always seems that they don't need it because being corrupt and evil is what they are."

"But Charles would then say, sometimes when it's a loved one who loses their way, you can't help them. They can only help themselves." Danny replied, "And that's what Ivar's git to do. There is still some of, what I can imagine, of good Ivar in there. He saved you from falling off that bridge."

"Then he poisoned me." Annaka finished off.

"Sometimes people get lost for a reason and stay lost for ever but it doesn't matter if it's 1 year or 40 years. They always find their way back to who they were."

"Actually you're not a bad a boyfriend as everyone makes out you are." Annaka told him.

"Thanks." Danny replied unsure if that was a compliment or an insult, "He'll see sense in the end. You'll see."


	10. Kick into the conference? Part 1

"Now remember." James said, "Superb behaviour, no pranks, trick or messing around. This is an important conference for _all _defenders."

"Yes, we know." Jack said, "But seriously, why is it being held in Switzerland?"

"To make us all suffer." Zsa-Zsa replied, "8 hours on a plane sitting behind the Peck family."

"Hey!" Danny shouted, "We weren't _that_ bad!"

"Defenders!" James shouted, "This is exactly what I mean!"

Danny and Zsa-Zsa stopped arguing and silent. It wasn't their fault. They didn't even want to be here. When the Jr defenders were told about this conference, they all immediately started shouting at the respective parent. Then they were told it was in Switzerland. If James hadn't physically dragged the Jr defenders away, a riot was sure to start.

James opened one of the golden doors which lead to the conference room. Inside the room itself, had a golden design, golden wall paper and a classy golden ceiling with angels painted on, in the centre one big round table, that almost fitted the entire room, most of the defenders from the other countries were sitting down already talking about boring things like attackers and slime. Kyle noticed the big banner that said 'Defender's Conference'.

"Well Duh." Kyle whispered. He swore he said is as quietly as he could but he heard Jack chuckling next to him and shaking his head in a humorous manner.

James scanned the area and gestured that the Jr defenders follow him. Clearly, this wasn't his first defenders conference. He knew his way around this building then again, he could have just spotted the defenders.

Their parents, who were sitting smiling away with the Spanish defenders,. Their parents who had kindly signed them up for this conference because they thought it was time they took an interest in this sort of thing. Their parents who, when landed at the airport, ditched them because they wanted to make a good impression on the head of the defenders.

"Ah, here they are now." They heard Knightriss say as she stood up and pulled Jack away from the group, "This is my son Jack, _leader_ of the Jr defenders."

Jack did his sarcastic smile, luckily none of the adults caught on even when the Jr defenders laughed slightly. Knightriss then moved onto the next Jr defender after boasting about her son.

"And these are Zsa-Zsa, Danny, Annaka and Kyle." She introduced then sat down. The other defenders minus Skabb looked far from impressed. Their children didn't get their life achievements boasted about.

"Very nice to meet you." The head of the Spanish Defenders greeted.

Well, that's what Danny thought he said. He had a very strong Spanish accent so he, along with the others, nodded politely and hoped that was the right response. Unfortunately, he didn't stop talking.

"Mis amigas here were just saying how well you defend the castle." He continued, "What proportion of slime do you use?"

All heads turned to Zsa-Zsa on this one, who smiled back and froze. Annaka figured she froze for two options. 1 being that she had no idea what the man had said and was trying to process it in her head or 2, she had no idea what the proportion of slime she actually used.

"Umm, well I don't have the…" She started saying as she glanced at Thorne for help but he was just as confused or dumbfound as she was, "Statistics at the moment. The attackers have been declining for us, so we haven't had many attacks."

"Oh, ci, ci." The Spanish defender replied, "We have had the same problem in Spain, maybe they are giving up."

This comment was clearly meant to be a joke as the defender burst out laughing along with his team mates as he said it. All of the Canadian defenders started laughing awkwardly even James, who thought this man was nuts.

After the laughter had ended, no one spoke. Jack turned to look at the Jr defenders then his parents. Everyone still remained silent until Danny spoke up.

"Do you think Batman would win a fight against Spiderman?" He asked.

All of the Jr defenders groaned, this was the tenth time this week.

"Batman and Spiderman are two completely different super heroes." Jack stated.

"So, that's like saying we're two different defenders." Danny argued back.

"Then that would be asking who would win in a fight against you and me." Jack asked him.

Everyone went silent in thought then they were all about to open their mouths. This was the one thing James didn't want to happen. Everyone (including the defenders) was arguing against one another about who would win. 'Team Danny' and 'Team Jack' were arguing against each other, rather loudly.

"Enough!" James shouted above them, "Let's all sit down and shut up!"

The Jr defenders found their seats and sat down in silence waiting for the head of the defenders to start his speech. James heard his phone vibrate. Clearly he wasn't the only one as all the of the Canadian defenders turned around and looked at him. The defenders gave him a glare while the Jr defenders gave him a smug.

"Defenders!" The head shouted. His voice boomed through the Golden hall, "Welcome! It's an honour to be here and discuss the latest problems that arise. The first being the lack of attackers."

"Here we go." Danny muttered as Kyle looked on confused, this was his first conference.

"What?" Kyle asked.

"Basically, he babbles on talking about one subject for 30 minutes in the greatest detail ever. Seriously." Danny explained, "Why did we have to come?"

James was whispering on his phone. He looked stressed and glanced at the Jr defenders. He ended the call and slowly got up to talk to Jack. He patted him on the back and whispered into his ear. Zsa-Zsa glanced at the pair the turned her attention back to the head of defenders, who was now naming statistics of the number of attacker back to 1998.

James sat back down. He wrote something down onto a piece of paper and scrunched it up. He aimed it for Zsa-Zsa. He threw it and it hit her head. She turned around and glared at him. He pointed to the piece of paper and mimed to open it up.

She shook her head in the same way; she would shake her head at Danny's pranks. She opened the note and read it.

_Meteorots detected at Pearl Canyon. Need to go now!_

She closed the note and threw it at Danny, who read it with Kyle. They both nodded at threw it at Annaka's hair. She glared, like Zsa-Zsa, at the pair but read it anyway. Once finished, she looked at her team mates. How were they going to sneak out of this conference? 


	11. Kick into the conference? Part 2

The Jr defenders sat there for a minute, trying to figure out a way to escape this dreaded conference. They were bang in the middle of the hall. Everyone from behind would see them including Vane, Faetal, Kook and Shaiden. This was mission impossible. It was easy for James; he wasn't even a defender so he just got up and walked out.

Danny tapped the table repeatedly, causing annoyance to defenders nearby. He looked around the table as saw some decorations- candles and napkins (for the feast later) that had been placed there. Danny slowly reached out for the napkin and slowly pulled it back so it was closer to him.

Kyle looked at him and caught, on seemly grabbing the nearest napkin to himself, he copied Danny's moves. Danny held the napkin in his hand then threw it down on the floor. He smiled to the defenders who noticed while they shook their heads. He slid off the chair and was now under the table. A few seconds later Kyle joined him. The pair smiled at each other. 2 down 3 to go.

As soon as that thought left Danny's mind, Zsa-Zsa slid onto the floor. The head of defenders was still babbling in about statistics. Kyle crawled over to Jack's legs and shook them while Zsa-Zsa did the same to Annaka, the pair looked down confused but slid anyway.

"So, what are we doing down here?" Annaka whispered hoping no one would hear her.

"We are escaping." Danny whispered, like it was common knowledge, as he led the way.

The Jr defenders carefully crawled past all of the defenders feet. Why did the table have to be long and rectangular? Then again, they should be thankful; at least the tables weren't round and in clusters. That would have been tricky yet hilarious. Danny stopped mid-crawling allowing Kyle to bump into him and creating a knock on effect.

"What now?" Jack hissed from the back of the line.

"We're at Wolver's feet." Danny announced.

Wolver was an Australian defender, whom did not get well with Danny. The pair clashed at every meeting but the thing that annoyed Danny the most was that he would never fall for one of his pranks. He was about to change that.

"Tying his shoe laces together? Really?" Zsa-Zsa asked, "Pearl Canyon is in danger."

"I'll be a sec." He exclaimed whispering tying to final bow, "Done."

Danny continued crawling until he reached the. He continued to crawl until he found his head colliding with the big wooden door. Kyle snickered as Danny slowly crouched up and opened the doors. The 5 Jr defenders escaped slowly and cheered quietly as their escape had been a success.

"So how do we get back to Pearl Canyon?" Annaka asked, "It takes 8 hours on the plane and we probably have 1 hour max."

"Didn't think of that." Danny admitted, "Jack, got any ideas?"

"It's not like the leader cleverly built in a teleportation system into your communicators, so that can't work." Jack said smugly, "Oh wait your brilliant leader did just that."

"Okay, okay." Zsa-Zsa said, "We get the picture, so how do we teleport?"

"Like this." Jack told her and with a black flash he was gone. Kyle pressed the button. A yellow flash blinded Annaka, when she blinked several times. She noticed that Kyle had gone. In the corner of her eyes, she saw a green and blue flash. The other two had ditched her! Annaka looked down at her communicator, there were only two buttons. One for speaking and she guessed the other one was for teleporting. Closing her eyes and silently praying, she pressed the second button.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes. Annaka looked around; she was in the control room of the Castle. She had made it. Everything looked familiar, the coloured stalls, and the broken computer. She was so happy to have made it back in one piece, she completely forgot about the Meteorots.

"Annaka! Come on!" She heard someone shout.

Annaka turned around and raced up the stairs to find Kyle waiting there for her. The others were ahead but the red and yellow overdrive soon caught up. Kyle felt an adrenaline rush. He couldn't believe it. 5 minutes ago, they were in Switzerland, bored out of their minds now, they were back home ready to fight.

Jack tried to find the Meteorots but it was seemingly harder than he thought. Normally, the sound of screams from people terrified could be heard but not today. Everyone seemed peaceful. Maybe who ever called James was wrong?

"Do you think the Meteorots left?" Danny asked.

Although it may have seemed like a stupid question to the untrained eye, he did indeed have a point. The Meteorots were nowhere. None of the Jr defenders could see any pink or purple robots.

"Is anyone else really suspicious now?" Zsa-Zsa asked gaining nods.

Annaka was looking behind her and stopping to get a quick glance around the park. She could hear voices of families but they were distant. This part of the park was empty. She took one final glance and turned back to join her team mates, who were alerted with a high pitch scream.

The four of them turned around to see Annaka kicked a Meteorot to the ground. The rushed over to her, jumping over the robot.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked grabbing her by both arms.

"I'm fine, I think." She replied, holding onto both of his arms.

The three remaining Jr defenders whipped out their keys, Annaka and Danny let go of each other and grabbed their keys.

"Kick into Overdrive!" Jack shouted.

"**Mountain Cruiser"**

"**Wind Storm"**

"**Desert Fire"**

"**Bright Star"**

"**Dark Lightning"**

The coloured flashed appeared as did the remaining Meteorots. The Jr defenders spilt and fought off their group of coloured machinery. Kyle jumped as a Meteorot tried to make him lose balance but the jump allowed him to fight back with a high kick to the chest. The Meteorot robot fell back into two of its team mates crushing them both.

Annaka kicked down her lot one by one as a revenge for scaring her earlier. She kicked one in the chest and sent it flying into the bushes before turning her attention to one behind her which she kicked on the stomach and pushing it to the floor.

Danny was using his ninja speed to fight his Meteorots. He punched them twice without them realising it. Of course they felt some sort of impact when this all happened but Danny was so fast that when he finished them all with one final quick, they fell instantly to the ground unsure of what happened.

Zsa-Zsa wished she had some sort of auxiliary weapon but she didn't so it was old school methods for her. She did a mixture of different level kicking which ended with mechanical parts in the bushes and some directly aimed punches which weren't so messy. Either way she was getting the job done.

Jack pushed two Meteorots together by using his strength. They seemed to destroy each other that way which Jack found quite funny. He then kicked one from behind as two fell to the floor. Jack punched another one at the same time as punching his final robot fiend.

"Just one question." Kyle said, "How are we going to get back or are we even going back?"

"Where?" Jack asked confused.

"Switzerland! Our parents would have realised that we are missing and will be very worried when they find out we aren't even in the same country as them." Kyle explained.

The Jr defenders sighed as they looked at their communicators and pressed the second button.


	12. An Overdrive Upgrade

After teleporting back and forth between Switzerland and Pearl Canyon, the Jr defenders were certainly glad they were home. None of their parents had a clue to what they had been up to. To be honest it was better that way. Even it meant they were more tired than usual.

"Earth to Danny." Zsa-Zsa shouted as she entered the kitchen, "Wake up!"

"What?" He asked confused then realised what had happened, "Oh."

"No problem, I'm feeling like that as well."

"Astrid has been sending them nonstop for the past week." Danny stated, "Even at night! Does she not sleep?"

"Maybe she has them on automatic?" Zsa-Zsa suggested, "They are robots after all."

Danny shrugged and decided to get himself some breakfast, hopefully to increase his energy levels so their parents wouldn't be suspicious like Vane and Faetal after they had to wake Kyle up at 10am. According to Faetal, Kyle always woke up before 9am. This started some sort of rumour that the Jr defenders were having late night parties in their den. Danny laughed slightly, he wished.

Suddenly, his communicator beeped. He groaned and glanced at Zsa-Zsa. She too was annoyed at this. The pair opened the rusty forgotten door to the control room and ran down the stairs. The other three Jr defenders were already their locating the disturbance.

"What do we have?" James ordered.

"I don't know." Annaka replied honestly and half asleep, "The readings are everywhere. It doesn't help that the computer is still broken slightly."

"How many readings do you have?" James asked looking at the screen.

"5 by the looks of it." Kyle told everyone after he yawned, "What's the plan?"

"I'm sending a pair of co-ordinance to everyone. Check the location then report back." Jack ordered.

The 5 tired Jr defenders left the Castle as quick as they could and separated for their own locations. Danny was first. He was heading east of Pearl Canyon, towards the industrial sites. Danny looked around, trying to spot any suspicious behaviour. Danny sighed; it was too early to be doing this. He should be sleeping or playing video games not out in town looking for an attack.

"Right. Looks like everything's clear." Danny announced as he turned around.

"Not so fast!" A deep dark rusty voice shouted from behind. Danny turned back around and came face to face with a green shiny metal robot. A fully functioning robot, not a Meteorot a robot. He was in trouble.

Zsa-Zsa entered the woods from behind the castle. This was going to take her forever. She made a mental not to design a scanner for their next alert. She jumped off a fallen log and landed onto the marshy wet ground. She continued walking for a few more minutes. Somehow Zsa-Zsa had convinced herself that there was nothing here until she saw it. A blue gleaming fully functioning robot.

"Now I'm in trouble." She whispered to herself.

Kyle was heading towards the shopping mall. He hated that place; it was filled with people and big bags, something he had no interest in. Maybe that's why Jack sent him here. Bringing Annaka here would have been a nightmare. He checked inside the mall first. He could see no suspicious behaviour. He then checked around the mall. No one went behind the mall for some reason. He asked about that when he first got here but the others just replied with "you don't go there."

"Oh well no monster." Kyle said too happily, "I'll just return."

Kyle heard a twig snap and he looked around. There he saw a gleaming yellow robot. Why did he have to open his mouth?

Jack headed North of Pearl Canyon, towards the Suburbs. He started to doubt whether a monster would really go out here. There was no people so what would he gain? There wasn't really anything in the suburbs, a few B&BS and a gas station. Jack walked around in a circle for a bit. Whatever was out there had a chance to attack.

"Anyone? Anything?" Jack shouted.

Something blinded him in the corner of his eye; he turned sideways with his arm over his eyes. He squinted and saw a black, shiny robot. A proper robot.

Annaka was walking through the park, avoiding the temptation to sit and sunbath on the green grass. She was surprised by the amount of people that were already playing at the park despite it being around 9am. Annaka reached the end of the path after looking in every bush. She sighed and turned around. A red metal robot blocked her way. She gulped as she reached her communicator.

"Guys, I have a robot like a normal metal robot." Annaka told the others.

"Same problem here." Zsa-Zsa replied.

"Yep!" Kyle replied sounding like he was struggling.

"Tied up at the moment Ann." Danny replied.

"Do you think you can take it down?" Jack asked.

"Possible." Annaka said grabbing her key.

"Kick into Overdrive!" The 5 Jr defenders shouted.

"**Mountain Cruiser"**

"**Wind Storm"**

"**Desert Fire"**

"**Bright Star"**

"**Dark Lightning"**

The 5 Jr defenders ran into their robot and fought with all their might. The fully functioning robots were incredibly harder to beat than Meteorots. As soon as the Jr defenders were close enough for an attack, the robot swept them backwards with its arm.

Punching or kicking did nothing. As soon as you kicked, the robot would grab your leg and drop you onto the floor and as soon as you punch, the robot stopped your fist and pushed you back. This was a total disaster.

"Guys. I need help!" Danny shouted down the communicator. He had just been swept off his feet and had automatically powered down as a result of that.

"You're not the only one." Kyle spoke back having also automatically powered down.

"Spectacular." Zsa-Zsa said in a blunt town, "I've lost power."

"And I'm down." Jack exclaimed sounding in a lot of pain, "Annaka, how are you surviving?"

"I'm not." Annaka shouted which then ended with a thump. Clearly she was being thrown across the park when her communicator went off, "I'm down too."

"Defenders, retreat back to castle." Jack ordered, "This isn't working."

The Jr defenders used their new teleportation method to get back to the castle quickly. When James turned around, in the control room, he saw the 5 Jr defenders on the floor groaning in pain. He ran to help them up and took a step back. He analysed the damage, didn't look to bad.

"What happened?" James asked confused and slightly concerned.

"Turns out there were 5 robots waiting for us." Jack explained.

"Yeah 5 big metal robots." Annaka finished off, "There is no way we can beat them!"

They stood in silence for a moment. James walked over to the planning table and smiled, "There is a way."

The Jr defenders followed him intrigued and confused. James turned on the hologram which showed 5 auxiliary weapons. The first one being a black sword, the second one along was a blue mini canon. The third auxiliary weapon was a green square thing that no one had ever seen before. The fourth one was a red bow strangely without arrows and the fifth one was two yellow laser guns.

"Defenders, meet you're new weapons." James announced proudly, "Dark light sword, Star Canon, Fire Charger, Wind Shooter and Mountain lasers."

The Jr defenders nodded while they were still looking at their new weapons. Surely this upgrade would be, without a doubt, a good thing. The JCD auxiliary weapons were put to good use especially when at the final battle.

"Right, you 5 better go and sort out those robots."

The Jr defenders nodded and left the castle running towards their robots. Kyle ran back towards the mall. The robot had moved and was vandalising the area. Kyle powered up again and activated his new mountain lasers. He aimed them for the robot. When they hit sparks came off and the robot looked around however Kyle kept shooting until the robot became burnt out and fell to the ground in a heap.

Annaka climbed up one of the park trees and aimed her new wind shooter at her victim. He pulled the bow back and was surprised that fire shots hit the robot. She was expecting bows not fire shots. The robot looked around confused so Annaka took this opportunity to keep firing. The robot fell to the ground in pieces.

Danny had no idea what this square box did. He aimed it for the robot but nothing happened. He looked at the green thing and tried to figure it out. Once he glanced up again the robot was rushing towards him. Danny panicked and threw his new weapon at the robot, which stopped at looked down. The Fire Charger was stuck to his body. Danny heard beeping which increased in speed. Suddenly the robot exploded into tiny pieces all over the industrial sites. So Danny basically had a bomb.

Zsa-Zsa seemed to be running through the forest. Shoot the robot, that's all you had to do but somehow the robot didn't react to the star canon and was now chasing her. Zsa-Zsa turned around and shot her fire at it again. It seemed to have more of an impact. She stopped and repeatedly shot at it. Finally the robot fell to the ground.

Jack was full on fighting with his robot. The sword scratched the metal body and was causing it to lose power quickly. Jack was smiling; it had one strike left until this robots power would be finished. He dodged another kick from the robot and struck the sword against the metal. The robot saw the slash in its hardware. Jack heard the system shut down and the robot collapse.

Meanwhile Astrid watched the Jr defenders fight. They had defeated 5 robots. This was not good. She needed a new plan. She looked around her tiny flat and smiled.


	13. Mamma Mia!

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Game Characters. **

"Just because out parents are away for the weekend, does not mean you can spend the whole weekend playing video games!" Jack exclaimed to the Yellow Overdrive defenders, who had been sitting on the sofa staring at the TV all morning, "Have you even eaten?"

Kyle scoffed at the comment, despite his eyes being glued the game, "Have I eaten? What sort of question is that? Clearly you don't know me very well."

Jack rolled his eyes and left Kyle to his newest game. He wouldn't mind if it was an educational game but no, Kyle insisted that he would by Super Mario 5 on Wii. Throughout the day, each defender hard the famous phase of "Mamma Mia" or "Let's go!" They were all sick of it.

"Seriously if I hear that plumber again!" Annaka exclaimed from the main room, "Ugh! It's a good thing that guy isn't real."

"Killing your own kind." Danny remarked, "You must be annoyed."

"I'm a Viking-Huntress. I'm not Italian." Annaka told Danny confused, "How long have we known each other?"

"No I mean Mario is red. Luigi is green…" Danny hinted.

"So what you're saying is Mario is my kind because he wears red?" Annaka asked. Danny nodded while sipping his glass of lemonade, "So that would make Luigi you're kind."

Danny was quiet for a few moments then spoke, "That doesn't work!"

Annaka looked over from the computer, "Yeah it does Luigi is green."

"Yeah I know that but then you would have to be Daisy and not Mario because Daisy is Luigi's Girlfriend." Danny explained causing Annaka to cut off mid-sentence,  
"I'm not having this conversation with you. Just leave it."

Danny shrugged, placed his lemonade down and made his way to the living room to see how Kyle was doing. He sat down next to Kyle and picked up the second Wii remote. The word 'Luigi active' appeared on screen.

"So what's happening?" Danny asked.

"Same story. Princess Captured along with Daisy. Mario and Luigi have to save them and stop Bowser." Kyle explained.

"I meant what's happening like in your life but okay." Danny said as he made Luigi jump over an enemy.

Jack re-entered the living room along with both girls. The Trio looked at the pair and sighed, just what they needed, two game maniacs. Kyle pressed the buttons but nothing happened. Suddenly Mario and Luigi disappeared off screen.

"Okay, what happened? Kyle asked, "I was on the last level. I was about to defeat Bowser."

"We were about to defeat Bowser." Danny corrected.

Jack was about to say something before a flash interrupted their eye sight. Jack rubbed his eyes once the flash disappeared. He looked around. Since when were the Jr defenders standing inside a volcano. Jack looked down. Since when did here wear a red plumbers outfit.

He searched for his team mates. Danny was getting slowly up. He looked around and was as confused as Jack. He looked down at what he was wearing. Okay, why was he wearing a green plumber's outfit. Oh no!

"Please don't be what I think it is!" Danny said as he looked at Jack and Kyle. He was right. On Jack's chest was a yellow M and on his hat, there was a green L.

"Please don't tell me I'm Mario." Jack said, "Please!"

"I'm Luigi!" Danny shouted, "Luigi!"

"Not as bad as me!" Kyle said making both of the boys look at him. The pair burst out laughing.

"Oh my, your Toad!" Danny laughed.

Kyle however did not look amused. He was wearing puffy white trousers and blue waist top and a really big red polka dot hat. Jack looked around. The three of them were standing on a red circle. Jack the realised that the girls were not present.

"Where are Zsa-Zsa and Annaka?" Jack asked.

The other two scanned the area and looked concerned. A big roar made the boys jump one foot into the air.

"Mario, Luigi, Toad!" The voice exclaimed.

"No way, it's Bowser!" Kyle shouted.

"You have 20 minutes before your precious princesses are destroyed!" Bowser told them.

Bowser turned the screen to the Princesses. The Boys eyes went wide open.

"Are they…" Kyle began.

"Annaka and Zsa-Zsa." Danny finished off.

The girls were currently tied up to a chair. Despite the situation, the boys couldn't help snicker. Zsa-Zsa was dressed in a big puffy pink dress and was wearing a tiny tiara while Annaka was dressed in a puffy Yellow dress also wearing a small tiara.

"Are they Princess Peach and Daisy?" Jack asked.

"Uh huh." Kyle replied.

"I told Annaka, she was Daisy." Danny exclaimed happily.

"We need to save them." Jack announced going back to the problem, "Kyle how do we do this?"

"Well, I've cleverly completed all of the levels." Kyle announced, "Except one. The Castle."

"We have to go in there." Danny stated looking up at the Black Castle, which was rather a lot bigger than their Castle."

"Yep, the final Battle." Kyle told them, "Ready to enter?"

"I guess so." Jack replied, "How do we do that?"

Kyle stamped his foot onto the red circle. The castle doors opened and the trio entered. They arrived at the first challenge. The floor was breaking up revealing hot bubbling lava. Jack stepped on first, being Mario, and managed to stop before the talking wall crushed him. Danny and Kyle quickly followed.

"Do you think we have 5 lives?" Danny asked.

"I doubt it." Jack replied running before the wall hit again. Kyle and Danny made it across easily then Danny looked up and saw a golden box with a question mark on it.

"What does that do?" Danny asked.

"Oh, it gives you special powers." Kyle said jumping up and hitting the box. Three ice powers came shooting out and landed by their feet. Each one picked them up and felt their bodies transform.

"This is so cool!" Kyle exclaimed as he froze a lava ball, "This will help us a lot!"

Jack smiled as they continued through the castle rescuing Annaka and Zsa-Zsa. Kyle took the lead on this mission seeing as he had been playing the game for the past 6 hours. Even though Jack wouldn't admit it, he was glad that Kyle did in fact play this game or they would be doomed and maybe even have perished by now.

Kyle hit a flag and turned around to look at his two companions, "We've hit half way."

"Halfway?" Danny asked panting, "It's been 5 minutes!"

"I know the last battle is always the longest." Kyle stated, "Be careful as this is where it gets harder."

Danny and Jack gave aspirated looks at each other then followed Kyle, this Bowser thing better be worth fighting as getting to him seemed impossible. Bowser seemed to like lava a lot and broken up paths. Maybe this is what they should do to defend the castle in future?

After more broken path and jumping from platform to platform, the trio arrived at to big metal doors. Jack stepped in front and pushed them open. They cautiously stepped in and saw a performance platform with lava below. Kyle looked across and saw the girls tied up. They were shouting something but they couldn't hear.

Suddenly Bowser came jumping down and landed onto the platform sending vibrations. He started growling. Kyle felt around in his pockets.

"Guys, look inside your pockets." He told them. Danny and Jack looked confused but searched anyway. The felt around and felt something. The pair smiled.

"Get ready to be incinerated!" Bowser exclaimed.

"I don't think so." Jack shouted back, "Kick into Overdrive!"

The trio grabbed their keys and inserted them into their devices.

"**Mountain Cruiser"**

"**Desert Fire"**

"**Dark Lightning"**

The boys changed into their defenders forms and started to charge towards a seemingly surprised Bowser. Jack glanced back and nodded.

"**Mountain Laser!"**

"**Fire Charger!"**

"**Dark Light Sword!"**

The defenders activated their auxiliary weapons. Kyle shot his lasers at Bowsers chest. He moved backwards groaning in pain. Jack them leapt up into the air and struck Bowser in the arm which he then clutched.

"Your pay for that!" He shrieked.

Danny smiled as he used his ninja speed to run towards Bowser and place his fire charger onto his chest. Bowser looked down at the green object just as its beeping sped up. Seconds later there was an explosion and Bowser fell to the ground. He boys ran past him and untied the girls.

"Nice dress Zsa-Zsa." Jack smirked. Zsa-Zsa glared at him.

"I told you, you were Daisy." Danny commented making Annaka smile slightly.

"Is the game over?" Annaka asked Kyle.

"Kind of." He replied smiling awkwardly.

"What do you mean?" Zsa-Zsa replied sternly.

"Well at the end of every Mario game, when the Princess is rescued, she gives her rescuer a kiss." Kyle said quietly.

Annaka shrugged and kissed Danny gently, after all he was her boyfriend. Zsa-Zsa on the other hand was more reluctant but after realising she was the only one from making the game end, she gave Jack a peck on the cheek.

A white flash blinded them for a second before they found themselves back in the living room. The 5 stared at the TV and were about to comment when they heard the Castle doors opening. Their parents had returned. Kyle turned off the Wii. That was the last time he would play Mario.


	14. A future to end

"Kick into Overdrive!" Zsa-Zsa shouted.

"**Wind Storm"**

"**Bright Star"**

The girls were meant to be going on a shopping trip to have some girl time (and to prepare Annaka for another date with Danny) but it appeared that Astrid had something else in mind. The girls worked as a tag-team to defeat the Meteorots.

Luckily it was a quick fight and the girls quickly resumed back to their shopping. Even though Zsa-Zsa wasn't a big fan of shopping, she didn't mind occasionally do it also someone had to be there to stop Annaka going overboard. Last time she went shopping alone, Kook claimed that with the amount of shopping she had that Annaka must have brought the entire mall.

Saying that when Annaka and Zsa-Zsa did arrive back, Annaka possessed a lot of shopping bags with her. She raced up stairs to her bedroom, dragging Zsa-Zsa behind her, much to her detest, and started sorting out her outfit.

"This date will be perfect." Annaka squealed as Zsa-Zsa rolled her eyes. She had no idea why Annaka wanted her in here. Annaka was the fashion queen; Zsa-Zsa was barely a fashion princess.

"Why am I here?" Zsa-Zsa asked bored.

"Because I need a girly chat and you're the only girl near enough my age here." Annaka replied. Zsa-Zsa couldn't complain with that logic. Zsa-Zsa smiled at Annaka but her smile then turned into a worried frown as a golden light began to surround them. Annaka ran at Zsa-Zsa and grabbed her hand.

"What's happening?" She shouted.

"I don't know!" Zsa-Zsa shouted back.

The golden glow faded and the girls appeared to be in a dark room with a witch's globe in the middle. Tall black stands surrounding them with fire burning at the top- it was their only light. Dark Purple smoke burst into the room. Astrid appeared wearing her witch outfit.

"Greetings my darlings." She said walking over. Annaka and Zsa-Zsa took a step back cautiously while still continuing their eye contact, "I'm here to give you a present."

"Unlikely." Zsa-Zsa spat back, "Any way why would we accept a present from you?"

"Yeah it'll be baby Meteorots or something sinister." Annaka agreed.

"No, I'm giving a rare gift." Astrid said smiling, "The future."

"The future?" Zsa-Zsa questioned, "How on earth are you going to give us the future? The future hasn't been written yet!"

"Oh no child. The definite future hasn't been written yet but there are still possibilities." Astrid continued while looking into her globe. She muttered a few word and the globe began to turn a murky black. Astrid took a step back and observed. The murky black left the globe and spread out along the cold wooden floor. Both girls observed wearily. The smoke covered their ankles.

"On 3 seconds, you will wake up as your older selves and observe your life as it has turned out." Astrid told them, "3…2…1"

Zsa-Zsa's head was leaning in something hard. She rubbed her eyes and leaned up. Her hair was lying on a white table; the blue high lights had vanished. It was now ordinary brown. She looked down at her clothes, a blue jersey top and a pair of jeans- how normal. A shiny reflection caught her eye. She looked down at her hand and there it was. On her third finger was an engagement ring. She gulped.

"Dr Cart?" Someone asked. Zsa-Zsa looked up and noticed a whole class of eyes watching. They all had book and pens, "Are you okay?"

Zsa-Zsa stood up and turned around to look at the board. The title slime was underlined, "Urm I'm fine. Where were we?"

The helpful student kindly told her what they had been doing. Thankfully it was a beginner's class so the knowledge required wasn't too advanced. Zsa-Zsa told them the basic recipe and how to develop it. Once in a while she would glance down at her engagement ring, trying to figure out who she was engaged to. The ring itself was silver and had a sapphire stone in it. Clearly, they knew her favourite colour was blue.

The bell rang and the class dismissed. Zsa-Zsa looked into her note book on her white desk. She glanced at it. Name: Zsa-Zsa Cart, Subject: Alchemistry, Year: 2042. This was weird. Astrid had some explaining to do. She found her time table and was relieved she had a free next. She magically found her way to the staff room. It turned out she was a professor in Splat High.

"Ah Dr Cart." Another teacher greeted, "How are you?"

"Fine." Zsa-Zsa replied, "How are you?"

"Good thank you." The teacher replied, "Are you looking forward to the wedding?"

"Yes." Zsa-Zsa said, hoping it was convincing, as she sat down, "I can't wait."

"Well it is in three days." The teacher reminded her.

Zsa-Zsa shook her head, "Oh Astrid knows how to place you in the most difficult situations."

"Hmm." The teacher replied looking up confused.

"No one just me muttering." Zsa-Zsa told him.

Annaka woke up on a soft surface. She was lying down somewhere warm and cosy. Annaka rubbed her eyes and opened them. She looked at her surroundings. She was in a bedroom which meant that she was lying in her bed but it wasn't _her_ bedroom. It was a different bedroom with white silk curtains, wooden furniture and glossy white walls. She held her hand out in front her eyes, to block the sun. She noticed something different. She put her hands down and looked. Two rings were on her wedding finger. Clearly they were an engagement and wedding ring. The engagement ring was very pretty, a golden band with a light reddish pink gem. The wedding ring was just a basic gold band.

She looked at the clock 9:16, 07/27/49. The year was 2049? So within 3 seconds Annaka had gone from being 16 to 33 years old. That was almost double her age. Astrid had a lot of explaining to do. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts on Astrid.

"Yes." She said timidly, maybe too timidly.

A tall male entered the room carrying a tray filled with breakfast items on it. Of course, her future husband was Danny. Who else? He was wearing a green t-shirt and grey joggers. They were obviously his Pj's. He his light brown hair was slightly shorter than it was back in the year 2032. He smiled as he placed gave the tray to her.

"Morning beautiful." He greeted kissing her forehead. Annaka's heart fluttered again. He still had sweet delicate kisses, "Brought you breakfast."

"Thank you." Annaka said discarding the tray to the side of the bed and pulling Danny in for a hug and another kiss, "What have I done to deserve this?"

"Very funny." He laughed, "You know what day it is."

Annaka looked at Danny, it wasn't her birthday, hers was in November nor was it Danny's his was in May. So it must have been their anniversary.

"I can't believe how quick it has gone." Annaka stated hoping to get more information out of him.

"Yes I can't believe it." Danny agreed clearly not wanting to give any information away, "7 years."

"Wow." Annaka muttered under her breath. 7? That would make her 26 when they married. This day could not get any stranger. Just as that thought passed, the bedroom door banged open and one figure jumped onto the bed.

"Mummy! Mummy!" The figure said ecstatically, "Have you had your breakfast yet? I helped Daddy make it!"

It turns out Annaka was wrong, it could get weirder. She observed the little girl; she was wearing pink onesie and had gorgeous black curls. Her eyes were chocolate brown just like Annaka's. She looked 4.

"Hello Sweetie." Annaka said, using her instinct she picked her daughter up and sat her down next to her, "What did you make?"

"I helped make the pancakes and I buttered the toast." The 4 year old girl said proudly.

"Laura!" Danny shouted, "Let Mummy eat it."

Laura removed herself from her mother and lay down on Danny's side of the bed. Annaka turned too looked at Danny and noticed that he was holding a 2 year old boy. He laughed as Danny gently bounced him up at down. Despite his young age, he had the brownest hair Annaka had ever seen and the greenest eyes known the man.

"Look Charlie, its mummy." Danny said.

Laura and Charlie? Clearly she and Danny had names their children after their much beloved guardians.

"Hello?" Zsa-Zsa said as she entered the mysterious house. Her sat-nav had labelled this place home although to this Zsa-Zsa it didn't feel like one. She entered what can only be presumed as the living room. She smiled, light blue walls. Clearly she had got her way when they decorated.

"How do you like your present?" Astrid asked from behind. Zsa-Zsa zoomed around; she reached for her overdrive key but couldn't find it. Astrid seemed to realise what she was doing.

"You don't have your powers in the future." Astrid told her.

Zsa-Zsa was about to speak when she heard the front door opening, her eyes immediately diverted to that. This was her fiancée. Her future fiancée.

"Possible future fiancée." Astrid reminded her before vanishing.

Her fiancée smiled to her and he stepped into the living room, "Hey honey."

"You've got to be kidding me!" She exclaimed quietly then coughed, "Jack, how are you?"

"Fine." He said walking over to her and kissing her forehead.

He hadn't changed one bit. His hair was still dark black and maybe slightly longer. He had changed his fashion sense a tiny bit. Zsa-Zsa then remembered something.

"Hey, what happened to out overdrive powers again?" She asked, "Just something today made me remember them."

"We lost them. Astrid destroyed them before taking over the world. Now she's in control, personally I think the world has gone into meltdown."

Zsa-Zsa stood there dumbfound. Astrid won? No way! She couldn't have, they would have stopped. They need to stop her, this all has to end.

"Jack, we need to get the team back together!" She said running into the kitchen and clutching his arms, "Where are the others?"

"Annaka and Danny are living in Pearl Canyon still but Annaka can't come she's, what? 5 maybe 6 months pregnant."

"Huh? We'll be fine with just Danny!" Zsa-Zsa stated with her mind still in over run, "What about Kyle?"

"Kyle's in Queens's way living with Amy." Jack reminded her, "Are you ill?"

"Jack, this is not out future." Zsa-Zsa stated, "We were meant to stop her."

"But we didn't." Jack reminded her, "We lost, and she was too strong."

Zsa-Zsa was still clutching Jack's arms. Oh that was clever. That is very clever. Zsa-Zsa looked up at Jack, who was still worried about her.

"Listen, I need to go somewhere." Zsa-Zsa said kissing Jack for the first and last time.

Zsa-Zsa ran out of the house and into the local park. She stood in the emptiest area and waited. Astrid had been clever. This was all part of her plan, show two members of the Overdrive team their future that she wins. She and Annaka will assume that they lose and when Astrid attacks in 2032, they give up as they have seen the future.

"Astrid!" She shouted, "Show yourself!"

Astrid did as she was told and revealed herself to Zsa-Zsa.

"This isn't over." Zsa-Zsa said walking over to her, "You haven't won. Not yet."

"Oh but I have." Astrid stated, "You're in the future."

"A future! Remember." Zsa-Zsa replied, "This is one of many. You haven't won not yet. Do you know why? Because we are so much stronger than you think. You're going to lose. You might think you know us but you don't."

"If you leave now, everything will become a dream. Fragments of your imagine imagination."

The black smoke appeared around Zsa-Zsa's ankles. She smirked, "I don't care. As long as we defeat you. 3…2…1"

Zsa-Zsa bolted straight up off the floor. She was back in Annaka's bedroom except Annaka wasn't in here. Not yet.

"Come on Annaka." Zsa-Zsa pleaded, "We need you to get ready."

Annaka was sitting on the sofa, her head leaning against Danny's shoulder. She was twirling her finger amongst her sleepy daughter's hair. She glanced over to the play pen where their son was quietly playing. She looked over at the TV. Astrid was blocking her view.

"Your time is up." She stated, Annaka shook her head, not now, not when she had all of this, "Prepare yourself, the final battle is coming."

Black murky smoke filled the room. Annaka started coughing and tried to find any of her family members.

Annaka slowly woke up. She was lying in her bed. Zsa-Zsa was on the floor clearly she had drifted off as well. Annaka looked at her clothes. She still had her date to prepare for.

"Come on Zsa-Zsa." Annaka said jumping off the bed, "I need to get ready."

"Sorry, I had the strangest dream." Zsa-Zsa replied.

"So did I. Weird." Annaka laughed along with Zsa-Zsa.

Astrid watched the girls from her globe. She smirked. They had not remembered a thing; her surprise attack will be even more surprising.

**A/N: So what do you think? Is everyone ready for the LAST chapter of Overdrive. **


	15. A Space Overdrive

**A/N: So here it is the final chapter. I hope you have enjoyed Overdrive as much as I have enjoyed writing it. So here we go!**

All the defenders were out at an Italian restaurant. It was Thorne's birthday and much to his dislike the defenders wanted to treat him. 'Treat' had multiple meanings in the Castle, for example a treat to Kook and Danny is being pranked by either one of them but to Annaka, Ballista and very rarely Shaiden a treat is having a Spa day. Thorne dreaded getting a treat.

Luckily for him, this one involved a food, a quiet area to chat and a long table filled with people. The local Italian was the chosen restaurant to night but no one knew why. Whenever someone mentions a restaurant, the human mind goes straight to Italian.

The waiting was taking their food order, well he was meant to be. Kook was taking forever to decide what he wanted to eat. It was agonising watching him try and choose between 2 dishes. Thorne was getting angrier and angrier. It was getting to the climax of his fury when…

"I'll have the ravioli." Kook announced like he had just made a life-changing choice.

Thorne let go of the napkin he was squishing up in his hand and let it go. The atmosphere had return to being calm and relaxing.

"Guys." Kyle whispered after the waiter disappeared and the adults were engrossed in a boring topic, "I think there's something wrong with my overdrive key."

Kyle reached down into the depth of his pocket and grabbed his overdrive key; he placed it on the table. He was right, the key was glowing a faded yellow. Zsa-Zsa, being over organised, took out her overdrive key and everyone else's, they were growing their respective colours.

"Something is wrong." Jack announced.

"Well duh." Danny replied.

"I would say go and speak to James but he's at the castle still." Zsa-Zsa explained, "Plus its dad's birthday…"

"It'll be obvious if we go." Annaka continued.

"But we need to do something." Kyle exclaimed back, "What happens when the next load of Meteorots attack and we can't use our Overdrive powers?"

"He's got a point." Danny replied.

"Well we'll all just sneak off to the 'toilet'." Jack said.

Annaka rolled her eyes at Jack's lame plan. This was not going to work. Kyle and Danny got up first and excused themselves to go to the 'toilet'. The others waited a few seconds before they did the same thing.

Danny and Kyle waited outside the restaurant. Surely the others couldn't be taking this long to find the door.

"Hey boys." A woman's voice from behind called.

Danny and Kyle turned around and saw Astrid in full witch form. Her purple hair was glistening in front of the moon light. Her long dark dress dragged along the dirty road and her moonstone necklace reflected into the boys eyes.

"Don't stare too long Danny, Annaka might get jealous." Astrid taunted.

"What do you want?" Kyle asked rudely.

"Nothing really." Astrid replied, "I just want you two and the other three to follow me."

"Like that's going to happen." Danny replied.

"I can be very persuasive." Astrid told the boys just as the remaining Overdrive defenders came out of the restaurant door.

"I was wondering how long it would take before you showed up." Annaka commented, "Which plan is it this time? Destroying Pearl Canyon? Sending Ivar and Neri after us?"

"Oh Annaka, I have better plans than those." Astrid replied as her pink electricity power ran through her arms. She closed her eyes and muttered a few words under her breath. She made eye contact with Jack and threw the pink electricity power towards the Jr defenders.

The girls screamed then everything went black…

"Watch out!" Kyle heard Jack shout as he slowly woke up from whatever happened. She rubbed his eyes and found himself lying on a cold glass floor. Kyle slowly stood up and looked around. He saw the other Jr defenders lying on the floor still unconscious.

Kyle walked over to them while taking in their surroundings. They were in trouble. Everything around them was glass. Kyle found a nearby window. His eyes shot open.

"We are a long way from home." He said to himself as he stared outwards at Earth.

They were in Space. They were on a Spaceship. Astrid must have transported them to her lair or whatever this was. Kyle heard groaning coming from behind him. He turned around and saw that Jack was now awake and slowly getting up.

"Jack!" Kyle shouted, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine I think." He replied, "Where are we?"

"You're not going to believe me." Kyle said as he pulled Jack towards the window.

Jack's eyes shot open just like Kyle's as he gazes out into the darkness. A figure stood beside Jack. They also looked out into the darkness.

"Anyone got a plan?" Zsa-Zsa asked.

"Get back to earth." Kyle replied.

"Okay Sherlock, how are we meant to do that?" Annaka spoke from behind them. She clearly had just woken up, yet seemed aware of the situation. She walked over to the others, "I say that we look around. Find a teleport or something. Astrid must get down to Earth somehow."

"Sound good." Jack replied, "We'll just wait for sleeping beauty over there to wake up then we'll get moving."

Danny groaned as he heard his 'name' being called. He got up halfway, blinked at the ground then stood up properly. He generally looked like he had just woken up.

"What's happening?" He asked yawning. He then looked around and noticed the unfamiliar room, "Actually scrap that, where are we?"

"In Space." Kyle replied casually, "Now let's go."

Jack took them down a dark corridor. There was no light expect from the dimly lit lights that flew along the wall. Anyone or anything could be following them right now and they wouldn't even know it. The floor of the corridor was hard and clearly made of metal. Every step they took made a creaking sound.

Jack turned a corner and the whole corridor got brighter and the Overdrive defenders saw bright flashes. Following Jack, they entered the unknown room. It was a science lab. This was where they made the Meteorots.

Opposite Jack stood dormant Meteorots, their systems hadn't been turned on yet. At the side of the room, the armour for the Meteorots were being placed together but of course pieces of armour needed a body.

"There attackers!" Zsa-Zsa exclaimed shocked, "All this time the Meteorots were attackers, brainwashed into believing their robots."

"We've been destroying attackers all this time, hurting actually people. How could we not know?" Danny asked.

Suddenly alarms started blaring and the dormant Meteorots woke up. Their systems were slowly turning on. Jack turned to his team mates and nodded. He took out his overdrive key and the others followed.

"Kick into Overdrive!" He shouted.

"**Mountain Cruiser"**

"**Wind Storm"**

"**Desert Fire"**

"**Bright Star"**

"**Dark Lightning"**

"Auxiliary weapons activate." They shouted together. Within a flash, the overdrive weapons activated.

Black, Blue, Green and Yellow Overdrive ran towards the Meteorots and started to fight them. They were new born Meteorots so would be harder to fight. Red Overdrive turned around. She could have sworn she saw a male figure head down the dark corridor. Without a second thought she followed him.

Annaka could hear his footsteps due to the metal clanking. Her Overdrive suit just enhanced her hearing. She found herself down a different corridor to the one she and her fellow team mated trekked down only minutes ago. The clanking had stopped.

Annaka came to a circular room light by a fire. In the middle her eldest Uncle Ivar stood.

~Ooooo~

Danny aimed his auxiliary weapon at a couple of the Meteorots and fired. The shot knocked them unconscious. The others followed in his suit and soon the new born Meteorots were destroyed. Jack took off his helmet followed by Kyle then Zsa-Zsa and Danny.

"Hey guys, where did Annaka go?" Kyle asked observing that the red Overdrive defender wasn't with them.

"She was here a minute ago." Jack noted.

"I wouldn't worry about her yet." A female voice said from the entrance.

"Astrid." Jack spat, "Why is it you have such perfect timing?"

Astrid smiled and walked closer to the four Overdrive defenders, "Habit I guess. I was saying it should be yourselves you should be worrying about. Annaka will be fine. She's with her Uncle."

"Which one?" Danny asked. He knew which Uncle she was with.

"Ivar of course." Astrid replied, "Who else?"

~Ooooo~

"I guess I have you to thank for bringing us here?" Annaka said to Ivar as she took her helmet off.

"You're just like Gildar, never could be pleased."

"Well maybe on different circumstances I would be."

Ivar smiled and circled the room. Annaka watched if every movement in case he brought on a surprise attack.

"You never did explain why you hated my father." Annaka stated, "Why do you?"

The penny dropped. The million dollar questioned had been answered. Not even Astrid or even Neri were particularly sure why Ivar hated Gildar or in fact all his brothers. Whenever anyone asked the defenders, silence would consume the room then Kook or Knightriss would change topic.

Ivar smiled as he looked at Annaka, "Being the eldest was hard especially having to look after 6 brothers. Of course like all Vikings I wanted attention and that slowly started to slip away from me each time a brother was born. By the time Gildar arrived I had no attention from anyone. Mum would worship the ground he crawled on and all my brothers were amazed at what he could do. They looked him so much- even when he stopped being a baby."

Ivar paused and looked up at Annaka, who was listening intensively, "When Gildar was five all my brothers wanted to teach him a new trick. I tried to teach him ones: fighting, fishing, football. But all my brothers wouldn't let me. You know I would see them all round the house together laughing and smiling, I would just…"

Ivar's voice rose on the last sentence, he fists were clenched and his eyes had a look of hatred in them, "I would just… feel so lonely."

Every single bit of hatred left his body, his fists unclenched and his eyes were filled with sad and loneliness. Annaka walked forward slowly and sighed.

"I know how you feel." She replied.

Ivar looked up, "How could _you _know how I feel? You have parents who worship you, a mentor who died for you?"

"That doesn't mean I still don't get lonely. I walk around that big castle, I smile when I see the others, I laugh but I only have 4 friends including my boyfriend. We've all grown up with the same background, minus Kyle; we've all grown up having to like each other."

"You had your parents." Ivar replied.

"Not for 15 years." Annaka replied, "Back they disappeared. I would say I had my uncles but your right. I saw them all laughing together with their sons and wives and then there was me, Gildar's daughter, the only pure Graphum in the family. It was like they were thinking now Gildar's gone we don't have to bother with his offspring."

"Life sucks at 16 doesn't it?"

"Yep." Annaka replied. The pair was now sitting down with their backs against the wall, "Does this still make us enemies?"

Ivar was about to reply when Annaka's communicator went off, "Annaka we need your help. Astrid's turned up."

"Okay Jack, I'll be there soon." Annaka replied, "I better go."

Ivar grabbed her arm before she left. She spun around confused.

"Before you go." He told her, "My Brothers may have said some terrible things about me in the past. Yes, I did try to kill Gildar, I admit that but be warned if you get on the wrong side of them, they will manipulate you and use you. Observe them next time you see them, watch them. They even manipulate each other. They will hurt you and lie to you. My brothers cannot be trusted, do not trust a word they say. Even Gildar."

Ivar pressed a button his wrist and teleported away. Annaka was left there dumbfound. It wasn't until she heard a crash they she remembered her other team mates. She ran down the dark corridor with her helmet tucked under her arms. She lifted it above her head and placed it back on.

When she arrived Astrid was covered in cuts and bruises. Danny and Kyle jumped into the air and kicked her across the room. Astrid fell backwards against the wall. Zsa-Zsa and Jack ran towards her, activated their auxiliary weapons and shot their respective colour lasers at her.

"Where on earth have you've been?" Danny asked.

"Talking to Ivar." Annaka replied.

Astrid looked up and Ivar's name. She got up, pushes Zsa-Zsa and Jack away and stood in front of Annaka.

"Be careful of what he tells you." Astrid warned, "He exaggerates and manipulates you to get what he wants. He turns you against your family then betrays you. I should know."

Annaka looked at Astrid. She had no idea who to trust. Anyone of her family members could be manipulating her and she wouldn't know.

Astrid smiled but her smile faded when Jack pulled her back and turned her to face him.

"It's over." He shouted.

"For all of us." She told him in pain, "My life is ending at my own choice. There is no need to fight me."

"What you're surrendering?" Kyle asked surprised.

"Yes." Astrid replied, her skin was going pale, "But my surrender will come at a cost. I have chosen to die, the spell was irreversible. I still have time for one more spell."

Astrid muttered a few words before smiling for the final time. Her eyes closed and her body fell backwards only being supported by Jack

"She's dead?" Danny asked.

"Yep." Jack replied, "What did she mean by cost?"

Zsa-Zsa shrugged, she assumed it was the confused words of a dying person. Suddenly the Overdrive Keys started glowing from inside there devices faster and faster until...

The Overdrive keys shattered into a million pieces along with their small engine like devices. Their Overdrive suits glowed and faded into nothing. They were back in there civilian clothes. Astrid's body lay on the ground peacefully. All of the Jr defenders clothes were ripped except Annaka's.

Astrid was right. Her death came at a cost. Their powers were lost and they were all stuck in space.

"Jack, what are we going to do?" Kyle asked, "We can't get home."

"I don't know." Jack replied looking at Danny, Zsa-Zsa and Annaka, "It's the end for Overdrive. It could be the end of us."


End file.
